


Enter Anne

by WritingPains



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Author is just mixing it up, Avengers Family, Avengers Feels, Avengers Tower, BAMF Tony Stark, Ballet Natasha Romanov, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Domestic Avengers, Dyslexia is real and it makes me blind to mistakes, Hurt Tony Stark, I desperately need someone to help me edit my work, I just couldn't let this idea go, It's the original story line just with a new character thrown into the mix, Kinda canon, Like, No one gets Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Avengers (2012), Protective Tony Stark, Spelling Mistakes to be expected, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, Trying to build a family, changes everything except the big timeline stuff, kinda not though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2019-06-14 20:39:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 101,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15397002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingPains/pseuds/WritingPains
Summary: Tony Stark's life takes a strange turn when he learns the truth about his time with the Ten Rings.





	1. ...Anne'd here we go again.

Tony has been back from his business trip for less than forty-five minutes when JARVIS informs him that he has a visitor. Dummy is tittering at his heels, and You is trying to pat his head, so Tony is feeling a little too distracted to deal with impromptu meetings.   


“Tell them to come back later,” Tony grumbles, as he stands over his workbench staring at the holograms. “I’m busy moping.”

  
The meeting had been boring, as he predicted, and nothing of importance was decided, as he had also predicted. However, it did give him an idea for creating an accurate voice to text recorder that could recognize all accents and transcribe it for succinct minutes. The secretary had been side-eyeing Tony like he’d stepped on his cat or something. He was fraying Tony’s nerves.

  
“I’m afraid she’s being quite insistent, sir,” JARVIS says, though he doesn’t sound as regretful as Tony thinks he should.

 

“She? It’s been almost nine months since I last had a ‘she’ come to visit me... should I be expecting a son or daughter any time soon?”   


“If you did, Sir, I’d probably have to inform the authorities.”   


That piques Tony’s interest. There’s only one reason that JARVIS would say such a thing, and it means that the woman is young. Thankfully, Tony knows enough about his previous... ‘exploits’... to know that he’s never gone down that path. He’s was a deviant, but he wasn’t a creep.   


“Ok, ok. Tell her I’ll be there in a few minutes.”   


“Certainly, sir.”   


Tony rolls his eyes at the sass on JARVIS’s tone and wipes his hands down on a rag. He steps into the elevator and points to the ceiling.   


“Take me to your leader,” Tony smiles.   
That smile lasts all of two minutes.   


“Who are you and where are your parents?”   


The girl looks to be around fifteen, probably younger. Her light brown hair is pulled up onto a scruffy knot on the top of her head, and her pale face is pulled into a sarcastic smirk. She wears a plain black oversized jumper and a pair of  loose-fitting  faded jeans.   


“Dead, Mr. Stark, but thanks for bringing it up,” the girl smiles, all teeth, too wide to be real.   


Tony should know. He wears it often enough.   


“My apologies,” he says, awkwardly. “Um, do you have a name?”   


“What a strange question. Come across a lot of nameless people in your travels?”   


Tony raises his eyebrows at her deflection and frowns. Is this a prank? Did JARVIS let some random kid into his building to prank him? He’s going to have words with Clint one of these days. Those two seem to have their heads together more often than not these days, plotting against Tony.   


“Not to sound rude or anything, kid, but why are you here?”   


The girl's own smile fades into an awkward grimace and she toes the ground with her torn sneakers.   


“Actually Mr. Stark, I’ve come to say; ‘thank you’.”   


“That’s not something I hear often,” Tony admits. “For anything in particular?”

“Yeah,” she pauses and then takes a deep breath. “You saved me from the Ten Rings.”   


Tony’s heart seems to stutter, and he blinks a few times, trying to stave off the panic attack that happens from even the mere mention of the Ten Rings.   


“W-what? What’re you talking about?”   


The girl seems more nervous now than she did a moment ago. She pulls her arms into her chest like she’s trying to protect herself, and she won’t look up.   


“I just want you to know that it’s not your fault, because how could you know, you know? I doubt they ever told you, and I’ve read about you online since I… well, I’ve read about you and I know you’re a good man, so I know you definitely wouldn’t have left me there, you know? So please don’t think I’m blaming you. I would never! I think you’re great, which is why I came to say thanks and stuff. It was never your fault—”   


“Hold up, kid, you’re babbling. What are you talking about?”   


Tony feels a headache coming on from trying to parse through her random spiel. The girl coughs, and she squares her shoulders, clearly pushing herself into talking.   


“I was in the cave in Afghanistan.”   


Tony just stares at her, but she looks down, as though her fraying sneakers are the most interesting things she’s ever seen. He can’t figure out if she’s telling the truth or not, but why would she lie?   


“I was there,” she whispers. “When you blew it up.”   


Tony gapes. He can’t do much else. The girl is in her teens and claiming she was there. How is that possible? She’d have been a child.   


“I’m... I’m actually the reason you were there,” her voice starts to shake, as does Tony’s body. “I was the one in contact with  Mr Stane . They needed to go via undetectable channels, you know? Cause you’re a genius or whatever and definitely would have noticed. So, they used me. The problem was... I tried to give them false information. You were supposed to be in a different vehicle. You weren’t supposed to get hit! It wasn’t the plan, I swear! I did everything I could to stop it!”   


The girl is becoming hysterical, and Tony knows he should do something to comfort her, but he can’t seem to manage any words of comfort in light of what he’s hearing. It’s like his brain has just shut down and declared it’s going on a lunch break.   


“And then they brought you in, and I was put back to work, but I kept an eye on you. After the surgery, I made sure to check in on the feeds a lot, and I saw... everything. The torture,  Yinsen  and then eventually your plans to escape,” she takes a shaky breath and she starts to fidget with her hands. “I managed to hijack the feeds and run them through old footage, so they wouldn’t get suspicious. The day the caves blew up, I had been taken to the nearest town for... that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I wasn’t there to divert their attention, right? I don’t know what happened, exactly, but when I heard about it, I just assumed you’d died or something.”   


Tony waits. Waits for further explanation. Waits for Clint to jump out and laugh at him for believing it. Waits for the girl to admit she’s lying.   


But she doesn’t. She just keeps scuffing her toes and wringing her hands. She doesn’t look up again, either, but Tony thinks she may be close to tears. It’s such a sharp contrast to the confident persona she’d exuded when he first saw her. It’s disconcerting.   


“JARVIS,” Tony calls, trying not to sound so panicked. “Can you... is there... is she lying?”   


The girls head snaps up dangerously fast, and just as he suspected, her eyes are glassy, like she’s on the verge of crying. She doesn’t wear the face of a heartbroken girl though. She looks affronted, and angry. Her glare grows more intense as the seconds pass, each one agonizingly slow, and then she turns around and walks into the elevator.   


Tony is too stunned to stop her, too shocked to say anything, or call her back. He just watches as the elevator doors close.   


“Well, fuck.”   


Tony’s mind definitely does not work in his  favour  for the next five minutes. He just stares at the elevator, waiting for the girl to come back. But she doesn’t. And why would she? She just poured her heart out and he called her a liar.   


“Crap.”   


Tony springs into action and runs into the elevator.   


“J, don’t let her leave the building!” he calls.   


“She’s already gone.”   


JARVIS’s voice is colder than Tony is used to. His shoulders sag and he  looks  up to the camera, hoping JARVIS can understand his regret.   


“I can trace her using the street cameras and inform you of where she goes.”   


His voice is warmer now. He’s back on Tony’s side.   


“Thanks, J.”   


Tony leans against the wall of the elevator as it moves, and he belatedly realizes he didn’t say where he wanted to go when the doors slide open.   


“What’s wrong?”

Natasha’s voice, sounding uncharacteristically concerned, forces his eyes to open and his back to stiffen.

“Dammit, J,” he mutters as he steps into the common area.   


“Tony?”   


Of course , Steve is there too. Why wouldn’t he be? They all live here now. It’s so easy for Tony to forget, despite JARVIS’ none-too-subtle attempts to make him  socialise .   


“What’s wrong?”   


Steve doesn’t hang about on the sofa waiting for an answer. Instead, he chooses to crowd Tony’s personal space with his bulking presence.

Tony doesn’t know how to relay what just happened, so he chooses to remain silent, looking to Bruce for some kind of help.   


“You look like you’ve just seen fifty ghosts who were all smarter than you and funnier,” Clint comments, sounding far more strained than he normally would. For all that he acts like an idiot, Tony forgets how perceptive the man is.   


Tony isn’t sure if he hates how attentive they’ve all become to each other’s needs, but he’d prefer it if they didn’t push their weird team bonding exercises onto him. He knows he isn’t part of the team, not really. He spends more time in the lab than he does with them, so it’s not like they really even know each other. They definitely wouldn’t understand the run-in he just had with his past. He definitely doesn’t want them to, either.   


“Nothing,” he lies, smoothly. “It’s just a caffeine come down.”   


Natasha shoots him an unconvinced look, one which Clint mirrors with a touch of snark attached to it. Steve continues to look like a worried mother and Bruce, the godsend that he is, stops paying attention. At least Bruce knows when Tony doesn’t want to be harassed. He knows when to stop pushing.   


Tony saunters over to the coffee pot and flips the switch. With his back to the team, he leans against the countertop and folds his arms over his chest.   


Who was that girl? And how could someone so young have been held by the Ten Rings like he was? It’s impossible! Or, at the very least, improbable. It simply doesn’t make any sense.   


‘Or,’ a voice in the back of his mind offers, ‘it’s more than likely and you just don’t want to accept it.’   


Well, yeah, ok. That as well. But really. She would have been around nine when they took her in. It’s just ridiculous.   


Tony nods his head to himself, as though he’s confirming his theory. There’s no way. He was probably hallucinating. She probably wasn’t even real. When was the last time he went to sleep, anyway? Or ate something properly? Pepper wasn’t with him for these meetings, so he didn’t have anyone monitoring him like he normally would. He remembers being in a hotel room, but he’s sure he spent most nights reading contracts and designing tech. He’s fairly certain he didn’t sleep for more than a few minutes at a time and didn’t eat much more than post-meeting snacks.  
He doesn’t feel hungry, but with the constant ache of the Arc reactor, it’s hard not to notice when he’s running on empty. Well, that’s a lost cause now, because that little meeting with the mystery girl has ramped up his anxiety ten-fold. He probably wo n’t be able to eat for another week, and sleep will definitely be more elusive. There’s no way he can avoid the nightmares if he were to try and sleep-

 

“You realize you’re talking out loud, right?”   


Tony jumps and spins around to come face-to-face with their resident archer. Clint’s eyes are narrowed, and he looks genuinely worried. Since Tony has no idea what to do with such an emotion, he steps back, pours a freshly brewed cup of coffee and bolts.   


He has other things to do other than being a cause of concern for Caps team.   


First and foremost, he needs to find the girl. Assuming she was real, of course.   


Tony paces his workshop impatiently waiting for J to locate the girl and send him details. At most, he wanted an explanation. At the very least, he needs to apologize. She seemed so broken, so young. And it was her age that was getting to him the most. How could she have been in the ten rings? That was five years ago. What would they be doing with a pre-teen? Probably before she’d even hit the doubt digits.   


What business did they have with a child?   


“Sir, I have found the girl.”   


Tony stops pacing.   


“She is currently at a youth hostel, twelve blocks away.”   


“Thanks, J. Send the address to my GPS. I’ll head over.”   


“Sir, if I may, it will be better if you send someone else.”   


Tony frowns, looking up at the nearest sensor.   


“Why?”   


“Because it will not do anybody any good to have a man showing up at a youth hostel to visit a young girl.”   


And dammit, J is right, which is sickening. The lengths the media would go to tarnish his name knows no end, and he doesn’t want to put either of them through that.   


“Call Pep for me please, J.”   


A minute later, Pepper has agreed to the rather ambiguous request to find the girl and bring her to the tower. Pep, the gem that she is, doesn’t even question how odd it is. She takes it all in her stride and within half an hour, she meets Tony in the lounge of his penthouse with the girl in tow.

“Now, can you tell me what this is about?” Pepper asks, looking between the girl and Tony. “Anne wasn’t very forthcoming with details as to why Tony Stark of all people was requesting her presence. And no. I’m not leaving until I hear.”   


Tony looks at Anne questioningly. Only she can explain what is going on, and Tony doesn’t feel like he has any right to force this information from her.   


“Anne?” Pepper asks, in that beautifully delicate way.   


“I was... I uh... I told Mr. Stark that I was being held by the ten rings, and then I left,” Anne folds her arms over her chest, huffing her annoyance. “I just wanted to say thank you. I didn’t expect fanfare, or even a ‘it’s no problem’. I don’t know why you dragged me back.”   


Pepper pales. Tony is grateful for this, because it just means that he definitely wasn’t over-reacting. This is a big deal. And it is crazy.   


“Can I go now?”   
Tony feels like saying no, he doesn’t want her to leave. He wants her to give him more details, but then he realizes that if she was truly taken in by the Ten Rings, then anything even slightly like being denied the right to leave could bring back some  unpleasant memories for her. He doesn’t want to trigger anything like that.   


“You can, but I’d rather you stayed,” Tony says, gently, wording it so that he wouldn’t make her feel trapped.   


The girl's eyes narrow and she looks him up and down suspiciously.   


“If you could, I would appreciate more details. Like, how old you are and how you ended up there, and more importantly, how you survived.”   


“We can order in some food if you’re hungry?” Pepper offers.   


This, apparently, is more than enough to convince the girl. Tony looks her up and down as subtly as he can. Underneath her baggy clothes and the new addition of a baseball cap, she’s incredibly slight. Her cheekbones are prominent, and her fingers are long and bony. When she moves, the outline of her arms show through the fabric of her jumper, Tony can tell that she has skeletal arms too.   


He hates to think why that is.   


“I could be swayed by some pizza, sure,” the girl replies, smiling. “But I don’t know how telling you any of those things will help anything.”   


“It’ll help me understand,” Tony admits. “I know it’s selfish of me, but I want to know why you were there. And why you’re thanking me now.”

Anne shrugs in a noncommittal gesture and throws herself down on the sofa. She smirks up at Tony and softens her expression when she turns to Pepper.   


“Ask away.”   


Tony puts in an order through JARVIS and then sits in one of the armchairs next to the sofa. Pepper perches herself on the arm and smiles kindly at Anne.   


“Why were you there?”   


“That’s the boring part. I was kidnapped on my way to school.”

“You and I have vastly different understandings of what that word means,” Tony comments off-handedly. “Why did they kidnap you?”

Anne opens her mouth to respond but seems to change her mind at the last minute. She bites her lip and lazily shrugs one shoulder.   


Tony figures that’s a sore spot, and probably won’t attempt to press her for information just yet.   


“What did they want?”   


“Oh, that’s easy. I was the town genius. Good with computers, you know? Not so much of a mechanic, but give me a computer and I can give you the world.”   


“And they exploited that?” Pepper asks, calmer than she looks.   


“Exploited is a fun way to describe it. Yeah.”   


Tony’s stomach twists uncomfortably.   


“How old are you?”   


“Nineteen.”   


Tony and Pepper both stare at the girl disbelievingly. She shifts around on the sofa and bites her lower lip.   


“Honest.”   


“You and I have vastly different definitions of the word ‘honest’,” Tony tells her.   


“Don’t blame me. I grew up in a cave. And it doesn’t matter how old I am. I’m old enough to look after myself, ok? So, whatever. It doesn’t matter.”   


Tony doubts that very much, but figures he’ll spare her the indignation of calling her out on it.   


Before he’s able to continue his line of inquiry, JARVIS alerts them to the arrival of the food. Pepper goes to collect it, leaving Anne and Tony in an uncomfortable silence that neither seem particularly pushed to alleviate. It’s a relief when Pepper returns, and the sharing of food temporarily removes the need to talk. Tony sneaks looks at the girl often. She’s obviously ravenous but trying to be cool about it, since she’s scarfing down the food at an alarming rate but seems to remember herself as slows down at irregular intervals.   


Her eyes dart around the room every minute or so, focusing on the windows and the elevators, and sometimes the ventilation shaft. Had she been anyone else, Tony would have assumed she was casing the place, but he knows better. He knows she’s looking for exits. Which makes sense, if she was held captive for any amount of time.   


When she wasn’t scanning the room, she was looking at Tony or Pepper or staring at her feet. Twitchy, is one word that Tony would have used to describe her. Clearly nervous. None of which he can blame her for.   


“So,” Pepper begins as Anne finishes the last slice of pizza. “How did you escape?”   


“Well, that’s what I wanted to thank Mr. Stark for. It was his intervention that freed me. I had been transferred over to a local village the day of the explosion. I was with my handlers when it happened and locked in a closet for three days while they tried to figure out what happened. And a couple of weeks later, they were shot.”   


Anne says it with such an air of casualty that Tony shudders.   


“You shot them, Mr. Stark. First, you blow up my prison of three years and then you kill the men who were torturing me? You’re like a weird metal angel.”   


Tony laughs, because he truly can’t figure out what else he’s supposed to do. This girl, this child, was in that damned cave and he didn’t even know. He feels sick at the thought that she could have been in the cave the day he blew it up, and he wouldn’t have been any the wiser. Another innocent life his weapons would have taken away.   


“Mr. Stark, if you  vom  on my vintage, street style sneakers, I’ll freak out.”   


Pepper looks down at the girl’s shoes and then up at Tony’s face.   


“Tony, are you OK?”   


“Is it so strange for me to say no?”   


Pepper pulls a face and shakes her head at him.   


“I guess not.”   


“Well, is that all? Cause I’ve got places to go and stuff...” Anne trails off, preparing to stand up.   


“Wait, no! One more question. Please.”   


Tony doesn’t mean to sound like he’s begging, but he’s desperate to know that her life got better. A youth hostel doesn’t sound ideal, but he wants to know she’s not suffering anymore.   


“Ok. One. But just one.”   


Tony nods but doesn’t speak. He can’t figure out how to word his question without sounding judging or nosy. Pepper is giving him her classic side-eye, as if to say; ‘what are you doing?’. He knows because he gets that look in all his board meetings. He can’t help it if his mind runs a little slower than his mouth sometimes. And in his  defence , he’s hilarious, even if other people don’t agree with his assessment.   


“I just want to know how you’ve been doing. Since you got back.”   


Anne’s easy, bordering on mischievous smile drops and she swallows.   


Touchy subject. Ok. Maybe that wasn’t the right way to word it.   


“Fine.”   


Tony isn’t in the slightest convinced, and from the look on Peppers face, she isn’t either. Even Anne looks  sceptical , and she’s the one that lied.   


“Ok, that’s good. If you need anything, anything at all, I’ll help. That’s a Stark guarantee.”   


“Oh, a Stark Guarantee? Is that redeemable only with you, or can I spend it in other stores?”   


Tony barks out a laugh and gives the girl a  humoured  but contemplative look.   


“Just here, I’m afraid.”   


“It’ll do, I guess. Can I go home now? You won’t send your lackey after me?”   


Anne pales suddenly and looks to Pepper apologetically.   


“A beautiful, well put together lackey.”   


Pepper smiles softly at her, and Anne smiles again. She then stands up and leaves. Tony and Pepper state after her, dumbfounded. Neither say anything for a while, and JARVIS is the first to speak.   


“I’ll keep an eye on her as much as I am capable, sir.”   


Tony nods his assent and gives Pepper a kiss on her hair, before heading down to the lab. He’s filled with nervous energy now and he can smell a record-breaking work binge coming on.


	2. Portals and sleep deprivation.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony wants Anne to move in, but then some kid in a park opens a portal and well, things don't go great for the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, because there are more chapters than weeks until Infinity War pt2 comes out, this is out of schedule. I'll upload them sporadically, as a fun surprise to anyone following the story.

Tony lasts almost five days in his lab before Steve comes down in all his condescending glory to cajole Tony into eating and sleeping. He stands with his hands on his hips and a patient smile on his hips. Tony rolls his eyes.

“M’not tired, Steve. I’m working.”

Tony’s yawn kind of ruins the claim, but Tony pretends it didn’t even happen. Steve huffs a laugh and tries to restrain a fond smile. Tony despises him for finding it funny.

“I can see that you’re working, but I can also see the bags under your eyes. They’re so big, I could climb into them.”

Tony doesn’t bother replying since he stores his wits in the part of his brain that works on sleep.

“Come up now,” Steve orders.

“Or what? You’re going to make me?”

Steve smiles, clearly seeing it as an issuance of a challenge. Tony barely has the sense to step back before Steve had hefted him over his shoulder and is taking him out of the shop.

“Dummy!” Tony shouts as he tries to wriggle out of Steve’s vice-like grip. “Intruder! Attack!”

Steve chuckles and Dummy simply beeps pathetically, leaving Tony unavenged.

“JARVIS, lockdown procedure SIAP193!”

“I’m sorry sir, but I didn’t quite catch that.”

“Traitor,” Tony huffs and goes limp in defeat. “I can walk you know.”

“You can, yes, but you won’t. That’s the problem.”

Tony doesn’t bother fighting as they enter the lift, or even when Steve dumps him in a kitchen chair unceremoniously. Clint snickers into his drink and Natasha looks as perplexed as a super spy can look when all of her emotions are carefully well hidden. Bruce on the other hand just offers Tony that careful smile that says he’s happy to see Tony alive.

“Spaghetti sound good to you?”

Tony nods because while he doesn’t feel hungry, he knows Steve would rather force-feed him than let him go another minute hungry.

Tony makes idle chat with the other Avengers, all the while thinking about Anne and her almost brush with death.

“Bon Appetit,” Steve announces as he places a plate in front of Tony.

“Thanks, El Capitan,” Tony grins as he tucks in. “Not bad. Not quite my favourite Italian restaurant, but it’ll suffice.”

“You’re the worst,” Clint moans as he eats his own food. “This spaghetti is divine.”

“Screw you, Stark,” Steve smiles. “And thanks, Clint.”

Tony grins and keeps eating until his plate is empty.

“Well, it’s been nice but—”

“Wait,” Clint calls before Tony manages to even stand up. “Who was that kid that came to visit. One of yours?”

Tony stiffens. He’s not ready to talk about Anne with the team yet. He needs more time to get over his flashback before he can even consider talking to someone else about it. Anne’s account of her time there was enough to send him on the permanent edge of a panic attack.

“Just a fan.”

Tony leaves, because he knows he wasn’t very convincing and he needs time alone.

“Stark, if you go to the lab I’m dragging you straight back out!” Steve’s voice carries with him to the elevator. The doors close and he leans against the walls.

“She Ok, J?”

“She’s perfectly fine, sir. Get some rest.”

And who is Tony to defy his best friend?

 

~

 

“Sir, you need to wake up!”

Tony cracks his eyes open and is surprised that the room is still dark. It doesn’t appear to be morning yet, and Tony’s eyes are still heavy with sleep. He turns over and buries his face in the pillows.

“Sir, Anne is in trouble!”

Tony snaps awake and jumps from his bed. He stumbles a little as he leaves his room and runs to the elevator.

“J, get the suit ready and send me coordinates!”

“Yes, sir.”

Tony skids to a stop inside of the lab and the suit builds up around him. The moment the last piece attaches, he’s up and out, following JARVIS’ directions. He’s swooping down on the alleyway where JARVIS says Anne is when he hears a scream.

“Step away from the girl,” Tony growls, boots hitting the wet gravel at one end of the alleyway.

Three men stumble backwards, looking between the girl and Iron Man. Anne remains on the ground, and Tony realizes that she’s unconscious.

“What did you do?”

The men seem to think they can outrun Iron Man because they turn and begin to sprint away.

“Not so fast, kids,” Tony calls and he blocks them off. “You need to answer for your crimes.”

Tony thinks that had they not been on the verge of wetting themselves, they would have scoffed at the line. Tony definitely did.

“The police are on their way,” he tells them.

He prepares to have to fight them into submission, but he hears Anne groan and watches as her eyes open.

“Iron Man?” she whispers, squinting at him. “What’re you doing here?”

“Are you ok?”

“That’s not the reply I was looking for if I’m honest,” she tries for a smile, but it falls when she tries to stand up but falls to her knees.

Tony reaches forward to help, but she flinches so violently that he freezes.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he promises.

“Are we having an Aladdin moment? This feels very much like an Aladdin moment,” Anne grins. “Do you trust me?”

She holds out a hand and Tony pulls her to her feet. She leans heavily on him, and Tony feels a renewed wave of anger when he sees bruises forming on her face.

“What did you do?” he growls again, turning to face the men.

“Mr Stark, leave it out,” she begs. “They’re just dumb kids looking for cheap thrills.”

Tony opens his mouth to argue with her, but two police cars pull up and the men are arrested. Anne chooses this moment to detach herself and try to walk away.

Tony has to grab her before she face-plants the floor. She grumbles at Tony when he picks her up bridal style, but she positively screams when he starts flying towards his tower.

“Put me down!” she shouts. “I want to go home!”

“You need to medical attention,” Tony tells her calmly. “And fortunately for you, I have an entire floor in my building dedicated to it.”

“How thoughtful of you,” she gripes. “Such a kind man. Whatever did I do to deserve such good fortune.”

“You survived.”

That shuts her up. She looks stricken and a little sad, enough so that Tony feels physical pain just from the looking at her.

Tony arrives on the landing pad and is greeted by the great Captain, whose face morphs from disappointment to bewilderment as he looks at the clearly beaten girl in his arms.

“Stark, what—”

“Oh slick, it’s Captain America!” Anne cries with fake enthusiasm. “What an absolute honour, sir. Please, could you sign my chest?”

Tony laughs out loud as Steve’s face burns red.

“You are adorable. Your 40’s ideals are, like, the cutest,” Anne babbles, all the while trying to battle with Tony. “Can you put me down now? I can walk.”

Tony catches Steve’s twitching smile before he turns towards the doors and makes his way inside, his grip on Anne unwavering.

“You know, I’ve been searching for you for almost five minutes,” Steve says conversationally, pointedly ignoring the annoyance that Anne is being very vocal about.

“A whole five minutes? You flatter me.”

Anne snorts indelicately, but curses when Tony lays her on a bed in the medical bay.

“This truly isn’t necessary,” Anne whines when Tony pushes her down. “I just need some ice.”

“I went to check on you,” Steve continues like he wasn’t interrupted. “And when you weren’t there I assumed you’d gone back to the workshop like you always do.”

Anne seems to have calmed down from her indignation as a doctor approaches and begins to examine her face and ribs.

“I’m touched that you were trying to catch an eyeful of me sleeping, Capsicle, but is this going somewhere?” Tony asks distractedly, as he converses with the doctor about the extent of the girl’s injuries.

“Well, I’m just saying how surprised I am that you came home with a child rather than a recklessly acquired injury.”

“Your faith in me is still so shaky that you honestly believe I’d go out looking for a fight?”

“No,” Steve says defensively. “I just mean that you don’t work at full capacity when you’re down a weeks’ worth of sleep.”

“You didn’t sleep for a week?” Anne asks as he tries to bat Tony’s hands away from her face. “Lord, how much caffeine did you drink? Or were you going for the harder stuff? Couple laps on the mirror, gum massage kind of thing?”

“I’m not doing coke in my lab,” Tony cries out, outraged with a touch of humour.

Anne chuckles.

“I’m not!” he adds when Steve looks horrified.

“Whatever, can I leave now?”

The doctor shakes his head and Anne frowns.

“I’m afraid you need some additional tests,” the doctor says. “Maybe it would be best if we were alone for that?”

Anne flushed like she’s embarrassed and nods we he’s ever so slightly. Tony looks from the doctor to Anne, waiting for some context, but doesn’t pry for more when Anne so graciously signals for him to ‘fuck off’. Steve doesn’t need to be told more than once, but he obviously thinks that Tony does, because he grabs him by the upper arm and pulls him out of the room.

“Who is she and why did you bring her here?” Steve asks once they’ve closed the door.

“She’s just a friend,” Tony lies easily. “And she got hurt. I wanted to make sure she had the best care.”

“You’re lying.”

“Dammit Steve, does it matter?”

“Yes, it does. It’s obvious that whatever is going on is stressing you out, and that’s a problem. To work as a cohesive unit, we have to be honest with each other and the team have to respond to—”

“Woah, I’m gonna stop you there, buddy,” Tony says, laying a calming hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Cool it. I know you need to meet a monthly quota for pep talks, but you’re barking up the wrong tree with this one.”

Steve blinks bemusedly and then frowns. “What?”

“You don’t need to play those games with me, Rogers. Don’t try and push your way into my ‘emotional space’ because I don’t need visitors there, ok?”

“Stark—”

“And we're back to second names now,” Tony throws his arms wide. “Just as it should be. Don’t try to rally me into your ‘team’, Captain. My business is mine alone, understood?”

Steve takes a moment to look offended before storming off, clearly hurt. Tony shrugs, trying to convince himself that it’s what he wanted. It’s definitely the most effective way he’s aware of to get people off of his back. Steve putting his nose into Tony’s problems right now won’t help. It’ll just make things worse.

“Mr Stark, you may come back in now,” the doctor says, beckoning got Tony to return.

Anne looks angry, and won’t meet Tony’s eyes, but he doesn’t blame her. She has no reason to tell him anything.

“She needs to be kept in overnight for observation,” the doctor says. “I’m afraid all other medical information is unavailable.”

Anne nods, and the doctor leaves. Tony stands at the side of the bed, suddenly feeling very awkward. He doesn’t know this girl from Adam, and she’s essentially just been dislocated from her life after experiencing trauma, and Tony is the one who pulled her away. Maybe he shouldn’t have done that.

“You look like you’re suffering some serious inner turmoil right now, Mr Stark,” Anne says, grinning widely, still avoiding his eyes. “Could you suffer outside? I can’t sleep with the sound of you brooding.”

“Oh, my sincerest apologies,” Tony drawls. “I’ll go sulk elsewhere, then.”

“Appreciated,” she murmurs.

Tony watches as she falls asleep, her breathing evening out and her eyes fluttering shut. He feels a surge of protectiveness over Anne. She shouldn’t have had to deal with the Ten Rings, and she definitely shouldn’t be fending for herself against horrible predatory men. On her own. Living in a youth hostel.

Tony is hit with a sudden stroke of genius, and he reluctantly leaves her bedside to go to one of the empty areas of his penthouse.

His living space spans across two floors, but he only ever uses the top one. And even then, he rarely uses that. He spends more time in his lab than anywhere else.

Which means he has the room to spare.

“J, tell me when she starts to wake up,” Tony calls. “And don’t let the others up here. I’ve got work to do.”

“Of course, sir.”

 

 

~

 

 

Tony has decided that he hates Ikea furniture. He’s a genius. A certified, multi-PhD owning genius, and he can’t make it fit! And why are the instructions so vague? And for what reason do they reference pieces that don’t exist?

It takes Tony exactly four and a half hours to order, receive and build a bedroom, and it’s tried every last nerve. He’s almost shaking with frustration by the end of it, and he’s not normally one to get easily upset.

“Sir, might I suggest taking a rest? I believe you’re suffering from a common ailment called ‘Ikea Rage’ and it’s doing little for your heart rate,” JARVIS advises.

“Shut up, J. It’s not my fault. The stupid furniture simply didn’t want to fit together.”  
“I’m sure the magically sentient pieces of wood are unfailingly apologetic for their wrongdoings.”

Tony sticks his tongue out at the nearest camera and brushes himself down as he stands up and looks around.

The once empty room now has a wardrobe, a bed, a chest of drawers, a desk and a bedside table. Against the wall are several boxes of things like a lamp, bed covers, a computer, toiletries and other stuff like that. He had planned to set it all up, but he doesn’t feel like he could attempt it without losing his shit at some point.

“Sir, Steve is requesting access to your floor,” Jarvis informs.

Tony tiredly rubs at his eyes and walks to the elevator. The doors slide open before Tony even has to ask, and Steve watches as Tony walks in and leans against the wall, closing his eyes.

“Sorry about earlier, Cap,” Tony mumbles.

Steve says nothing, but he squeezes Tony’s upper arm, so he assumes that it’s Steve’s version of acceptance.

When the elevator stops on Tony’s floor, Steve gently pulls Tony along and into his bedroom. Tony tries to protest as Steve pushes him onto the bed and quickly undresses him and redresses him in pyjamas.

“M’not a child, ‘teve,” Tony complains, his voice muffling as he buries his face in the pillow.

“I’m unconvinced,” Steve says fondly. “Go to sleep, OK? I’ll wake you if Anne needs you.”

Tony is barely cognizant enough to nod before he falls deeply asleep.

 

 

~

 

 

“Good afternoon, sir,” JARVIS says softly, as Tony struggles to wake up. “It’s seven forty-two in the afternoon, and today it is cloudy with a fourteen per cent chance of precipitation.”

“What? How long was I asleep for?”

“Fourteen hours, sir.”

Tony lets that sink for a minute before remembering why now, of all times, he shouldn’t have indulged in sleep.

“How is Anne doing?”

“She is fine, Sir.”

Tony nods and begins to get dressed, while he whispers words of contempt about how Steve put him to bed last night. Why can’t the man just let Tony decide when he goes to sleep? And when he eats?

“Possibly because you seem incapable of making those decisions on your own, sir,” JARVIS replies.

“I said that out loud?”

“You say more out loud than you realize.”

“Oh.”

Tony shrugs and pulls a shirt over his head, idly tapping his AR scars as he moves towards the elevator.

“Take me to the medical bay, J,” Tony asks.

“Sir, assuming you are going to look for Anne, I would recommend you first go to the common floor.”

“What, why?”

The elevator begins to move, and Tony has the distinct feeling that JARVIS has just sighed in exasperation.

“You’re the genius, sir. I’m sure you can come to the correct conclusion.”

Tony gives the camera the stink-eye but says nothing until the elevator stops. He steps into the common floor and looks towards the lounge.

“Mr Stark!” Anne jumps up from the sofa and smiles widely at him.

“I see you met Caps team?”

“Yeah. They’re, uh, interesting people. Mr Barton has spent the last hour trying to convince me to pick him as my favourite superhero, and Thor has been trying to stuff me full of pop tarts.”

Tony looks at Natasha, wanting to know if she’s made any interesting discoveries about Anne, but Natasha is watching Tony with her analytical stare that makes Tony feel naked.

“This girl has a tongue sharper than yours, Tony,” Clint says, signature shit-eating grin in place. “You’ve got competition. Can we keep her?”

“No,” Anne snarls, her face contorted with sudden rage.

Clint’s smile drops, and he puts his hands up in surrender.

“Sorry, I didn’t—”

“I want to go home,” Anne says, turning to Tony with a desperate look in her eyes. “Please?”

Tony doesn’t want to, because he doesn’t trust the world with this girl that he shouldn’t feel such a closeness to. He shouldn’t feel like they have anything in common, because while they share a suffering from the Ten Rings, this girl, this child, suffered a far worse fate than he did. And he doesn’t want her to suffer any more.

 

 

~

 

 

Tony drives Anne back to the hostel and watches as she enters the building. He’s not happy about letting her go back, but after her mini-episode with Clint, he can understand that maybe now isn’t the time to suggest she move in.

He wishes Clint had kept his goddamn mouth shut, but he reigns in his anger. Clint couldn’t have known that the comment would remind her of being kidnapped. Maybe he can coerce Anne into returning sometime, at least to visit. Before anything else bad happens.

Tony decides that maybe he’ll ask Pepper to talk to Anne. Tony has never had the ability to be calming as she does.

In the meantime, Tony has a long list of things to do for SI and his team.

“JARVIS, let me know if Anne needs me,” he says, stepping in his lab. “Lockdown.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

 

~

 

 

“Stark?”

Tony jolts awake at the noise, fighting with a piece of paper that had latched itself onto his face when he fell asleep on his desk.

“Steve?” he spins his chair around and comes face to face with Steve. “What’s up, buddy?”

“Call to assemble just came in. Be on the roof in five.”

Tony nods and pushes himself into a standing position.

“Sure thing, Cap.”

Steve runs out of the lab, cap and cowl already in place, and Tony stretches his arms out as he steps into the suit.

“Tell me what the jam is, J. What’re we up against today?”

“There’s been a disturbance downtown, sir,” JARVIS replies, quickly. “It appears that someone is creating portals that emit an unfamiliar energy signature.”

Tony’s breath caught in his throat as his powered up his thrusters and flew towards the area.

“Why does it have to be portals?” he complains, weakly. “J? Patch me through to the team.”

“Stark, I said meet us on the roof!” Steve shouts through the comms.

“Yeah, well, it’s quicker if I just fly there myself.”

Steve clearly knows better than to argue at this point, but Tony knows he’ll likely receive an earful later.

“I’m here,” Tony says, as he hovers above the chaos. “Uh, J, can we track the portals end zones?”

“We would need something to go through for me to track their energy transfer.”

Tony looks around him and spots a rock by a tree. He flies down, picks it up and throws it at the nearest portal.

“The rock has appeared on the other side of a different portal, sir.”

Tony nods and begins to look for the culprit. If the portals function is to scare rather than transport, then it’s not worth his time figuring it out.

“Where is the source coming from?”

“The wielder seems to be in the centre of the park, sir.”

Tony spins around and spots a young kid staring at the portals in fear. JARVIS brings up a negative display of his surroundings on the HUD and low and behold, the kid is surrounded by an unfamiliar cocoon of light.

“Cap, it’s a kid, but I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose,” Tony reports.

“Do not engage!” Steve shouts back, already anticipating Tony’s next move.

“No can do, Cap. I’ll speak to him, see if I can help.”

“Tony!”

“J, mute the comms.”

“As you wish sir,” J replies with an undercurrent of disapproval.

Tony slowly flies towards the kid and lowers himself to the ground in front of him. The boy, if possible, grows even paler.

“Iron Man, I- I didn’t... I don’t know how I’m- Don’t kill me!”

“I’m here to help, kid.”

The boy hesitates to look relieved, but when Tony puts his hands up in surrender, the boy’s shoulders sag.

“I don’t know how to make it stop,” the boy admits, shakily.

“How did you make it happen?”

“I’m not sure! I was getting chased by these kids from school and I got angry and then... boom. These things appeared out of no-where and the guys chasing me disappeared through them.”

Tony tries very hard not to imagine the kids falling through the portal because a panic attack right now would not be ideal. Instead, he focuses on forming a plan.

“J, unmute comms.”

Tony regrets that decision almost instantly. Caps shouting greets him and Tony winces.

“Cap, chill out. You need to get here and quickly. Some kids have fallen through the portals, and I’m not sure what state they were in when they came out. You need to find them and keep the civilians away from them. I’ll do what I can to stop the problem.”

“Tony, I gave you a direct order—”

“Mute.”

JARVIS cuts off Caps shouting, and Tony focuses his attention back on the boy.

“Listen, kid. You just need to calm down, ok? I can help, but you need to calm down.”

The boy nods, but he doesn’t calm down.

“First, you need to breathe, ok? You won’t do anyone any favours by passing out.”

The boy nods and makes a valiant effort to slow his breathing.

“Good, well done. And now, think happy thoughts.”

The boy throws Tony a sceptical look, which Tony takes as a sign that he’s calmer than he was a minute ago.

“It doesn’t matter how you started it right now, ok? Forget the dumb kids. Just focus on emptying your mind and remaining calm.”

The boy keeps breathing steadily and seems on the verge of getting some colour back when the Quinjet lands in the clearing and Cap jumps out.

“Iron Man! Step away from him!”

Iron Man barely has time to flip his hood and warn Steve away before the boy starts to panic again. Tony tries to step forward, to offer the kid some physical comfort, when a portal appears in front of him and Tony falls through it.

“Stark!” Steve cries out as Tony disappears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment and send Kudos.  
> If you have anything you'd like to see happen in the story, let me know and I'll see if I can fit it in somewhere :D


	3. Where's Tony gone?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is gone, and Anne shooketh

Tony is floating. It’s not like it was when he was in space. That was painful and cold. It was lonely. It was suffocating. It was the stuff of nightmares, and Tony knows this for definite because it increased his nighttime horrors by one hundred per cent.

No. This isn't like that at all. Now, he’s just floating. He feels nothing. Not the air, not the cold, not the debilitating fear. Nothing. It’s like he doesn’t exist, and he doesn’t mind. It’s comfortable.

In the distance, he can hear shouting. It sounds like it could be his name, but he’s too... he’s not sure. But he’s too something to care to listen harder.

Maybe this is death? He’s had too many brushes with it, and all of them have been so painfully, so endlessly horrific.

Maybe that’s because he wasn’t supposed to die. Not then. Fate was holding out of him, keeping him alive until today. Odd, how he was destined to die by the one thing that scarred him the most in life. The portal. Not the child.

 

 

~

 

 

Steve stares at the portal hanging mid-air in front of the boy. His heart stutters just like it did all those years ago when he was sickly. He’s not experienced it in so long that it’s almost as disconcerting as watching one of his teammates disappear in mid-air.

“Tony?”

Nothing.

He’s gone.

Steve winds in his panic and rounds on the boy who looks no older than fifteen and exactly like he imagined Stark would look at that age. Tanned skin, curly brown hair. The only difference is the fear he so openly shows on his face and the bright green eyes that stare at the portal in front of him.

“What did you do?” Steve shouts, making the boy shake.

“I don’t know,” the boy whispers. “He’s gone.”

A dart sails passed Steve’s ear and it hits the boy in his bicep. The boy looks down at it, dumbfounded, and then crumples to the floor in an unconscious heap.

Natasha strides towards him with Barton on her tail and between them, they heft the kid up and carry him away. The portals slowly start to disappear, but Tony doesn’t reappear.

He’s gone.

 

 

~

 

 

Steve is sat in the lounge of the common area with the rest of the team in dead silence. The debrief with Fury had been deliberately short, because the man had had to go and find Pepper to share the news.

Clint is stiller than he has ever been, and Natasha’s face is as passive as usual. Bruce is staring at the floor mournfully and Thor is stood by the windows, but not really seeing anything of importance.

They’re not sure what they’re doing exactly. Waiting? Praying? Expecting? Steve doesn’t know.

“Where’s Mr Stark?”

Everyone jumps up from where they are and turns to face Anne, who takes a few steps back in panic.

Clint is the one who takes initiative here. He slowly moves towards Anne, who’s back is against the wall and watching him approach distrustfully.

“I think you need to sit down,” Clint advises.

Anne bites her lip, and glances towards the sofa and then back to Clint. Her nod is almost imperceptible, and it takes her a long time to actually act on it.

She settles on the sofa, looking only at Clint, waiting.

“Mr Stark?” she says like she’s reminding them. “Is it true? Is he... the news was kinda ambiguous.”

Clint seems unable to form the answer, but that confirms it at much as she needs it to be confirmed.

She slumps forward, puts her face in her hands and falls silent.

And so they continue to wait. To hope. To mourn.

 

 

~

 

 

Tony feels a sharp pain in his brain. It shocks him out of his stupor just enough for him to care.

He struggles against the air, but there’s nothing there. This. This is space. This is what space felt like. Like moving through thick goo. His limbs working sixty slower than normal.

And so, the panic sets in. He fights to regain his composure, but then he remembers where he is, and he opens his eyes, and there’s nothing but darkness. No stars. No Chitauri. Nothing.

Tony struggles against it. It’s like fighting nothing, and each push, each second of the fight only weakens Tony further. And with each weakening, the panic strengthens.

He can’t breathe. Damn panic attack. Why now? Of all the inconvenient moments to have his anxiety creep up on him, did it had to be while he was already anxious?

Tony manages to roll his eye, because even at his worst he’s still able to be sarcastic, and he lets his body relax. He falls limp and analyses any changes in the atmosphere around him. He’s certain that it’s not Earth, but it’s also not likely to be any other planet either.

The boy, that child, had no idea what he was doing, but if he could throw a rock in one and have it come out at the other end, it stands to reason that the in-between is nowhere and that he should be able to find a way out. When and how depends on several factors, but he’d wager a bet that it is closely linked to mass and energy levels. There was half a second between the rock entering and exiting the in-between, and with a small surface area and a relatively low energy level, Tony can only assume that by comparison, he could be here for hours. If ever 0.1kg of mass equals half a second, then he should be out within an hour, but without a number to put to the rock (noting that it depends on natural energy and energy surrounding when Tony threw it), there’s no real way that he can make an educated guess. It certainly helps very little that he has no idea how long he was enjoying the feeling of nothing.

As his body goes lax, the air around him thins. His body is no longer floating, but rather, it’s falling. And suddenly, there’s a glow around him. He tries his best not to fight it, hoping that this is him returning to the real world, but damn if it isn’t difficult to suppress his instincts not to fall to his death.

 

 

~

 

 

Steve is making coffee because sitting around doing nothing is breaking him apart. He’s just pouring out a cup for everyone when they electricity flickers and a portal opens up above them and Iron Man falls through with a high-pitched scream and lands on the island with a thump and an audible groan.

 

Steve drops the coffee pot, which smashes on the floor and drowns the tiles in hot brown liquid. He rushes to the side of the suit and carefully unlatched the suit using the manual clip that Tony had taught them all how to do. Tony’s body is still, but his big brown eyes are staring straight at Steve and a pained smirk pulls at his lips.

“Sorry to just drop by,” Tony chokes out, laughing. He then looks around and spies the shards of glass and the wasted coffee. “Aw man, did you have to drop it?”

Steve ignores his complaining and pulls Tony from the suit and into a crushing hug.

“Woah, Cap, come on. A man needs to breathe,” Tony whines, trying and failing to wriggle out of his grip. “Cap, come on buddy, I’m good. I’m fine. You may let go now.”

Steve reluctantly pulls back, but his hands stay firmly on Tony’s shoulders, his eyes roaming over his body, checking for signs of obvious injury.

“Mr Stark?”

A timid, youthful voice pulls Tony’s attention away from Steve and he focuses on Anne, who is clutching at her jumper like its life support.

“Anne? What’re you doing here?” he asks, dumbfounded.

“To see if you left me your tower in the will,” she snarks.

“Oh, kid. I didn’t know you cared!” Tony cries out, smiling wickedly.

He makes to climb off the island, but the world starts to spin, and he stumbles. Anne rushes forward to steady him, but Cap is there first, holding him upright.

Probably for the best, Tony thinks because Anne would likely have been crushed.

“You alright?” Steve asks, worriedly.

“Oh, just grand,” Tony says, squinting to try and make the room stop spinning. “I feel like I’m drunk without all the fun side effects.”

Steve half carries, half drags Tony to the sofa where he’s gently sat down.

Tony looks at the stunned faces of the Avengers and grins weakly.

“Why all the glum faces? I wasn’t gone that long, was I?”

Clint snorts and punches Tony in the arm just hard enough for it to hurt.

“You’re an idiot.”

“Historically, not true. I can turn one of my degrees into a paper aeroplane to prove it.”

Clint grins pleased and Tony grins back. It feels comfortable, their strange little friendship built on nothing more than a deep appreciation for banter and mischief. Natasha gives him a warm smile, though he knows it’s probably not an accurate portrayal of how she really feels. He’s grateful nonetheless. He smiles back and then leans his head back again on the sofa.

“Mr Stark, you look like you’re going to barf,” Anne says.

“Don’t call it that,” Tony grumbles at her.

Tony jumps half a foot in the air when a cold facecloth is placed over his forehead, and two hands hold the sides of his head steady.

“What’re you doing?”

“My mother used to do this for me when I was sick as a child,” Steve replies as he starts to rub small circles around Tony’s temples. “It helped me sleep.”

“I don’t need to go to sleep though,” Tony says, trying to bat his hands away. “I have science-ing to do. I’m the only one who... has...”

Tony barely makes it through the entire sentence before he’s drifting to sleep. Steve chuckles down at him but doesn’t slow the massage until he’s sure that Tony is deeply asleep.

“I can’t believe you managed to get him to sleep so easily,” Clint says, awed. “Do me next!”

“Clint, don’t shout,” Natasha admonishes.

Clint pouts, and Natasha seems to take pity on him because she rolls over the back of the sofa and starts to gently massage Clint’s shoulders. Clint groans in thanks and closes his eyes, smiling.

“You guys are all weird,” Anne mutters, before raising her voice. “I’ll be heading home now.”

Bruce stands up at this and looks slightly worried.

“On your own? It’s getting late.”

“Y’know, Tony did mention you were a genius like him,” Anne says, wryly. “Yes, and thanks. I can tell.”

“If I may, young miss, Sir has designated a room for you to use,” JARVIS says. “You need not return to your hostel tonight.”

Anne’s face grows bright red and she avoids making eye contact with the others in the room. It’s because of this that she doesn’t see the heads of all the Avengers snap up to look at her.

“I don’t think I should,” Anne whispers, backing away towards the elevator. “Thanks though.”

“Stay, Anne,” Natasha encourages. “It’s not safe out there. We’ll drive you back tomorrow.”

Anne feels trapped by good intentions. She doesn’t want to offend Tony by not accepting his goodwill, and she doesn’t want to worry the others by walking home late at night, but she also doesn’t want to stay. She feels like she’ll be taking too much from Tony. He’s already saved her life and saved her from the hands of those idiots from the hostel. She needs to go back and face the music anyway. They won’t be pleased that she got away.

But with the weight of what feels like a thousand eyes on her, she reluctantly slinks towards the elevator and JARVIS says he’ll take her to her room. He guides her from the large, surprisingly un-obnoxious lounge to a room at the end of the corridor.

“This is your room, young miss,” JARVIS tells her. “You are free to organize it how you wish. Sir has also asked me to tell you that you are free to use the kitchen and lounge however you desire.”

“Uh, thank you, Mr. Jarvis,” Anne replies quietly. “And- uh. You can call me ‘Anne’ you know? ‘Young Miss’ makes me sound like a child.”

“I was under the impression that you were within the limits of a child,” JARVIS replies, and Anne can’t help but snort.

“Oh haha. I’m nineteen, you know.”

“I’m not a lie detector, miss, but despite how convincing you may be, I’m doubtful of that claim.”

Anne shrugs. Ok, maybe she isn’t, but that’s hardly their business. Anne looks around the room and then at the boxes of stuff stacked by the door. Her curiosity begs for her to dig through them, but hesitation wins out and she simply goes to lay down on the bed, planning to wait until the other avengers are asleep so she can sneak out. She’s not that tired anyway. Besides, now that she’s met JARVIS, she’s insatiably intrigued by the idea of making her own AI. It would be endlessly helpful and beyond cool.

“Mr Jarvis, can you tell me when everyone else is asleep?” she asks.

“I’m not sure if that’s wise, young miss. I don’t know what you intend to do with that information.”

“I just want to go home without them all being on my back about it.”

JARVIS is silent for a long time, and Anne squirms on the bed, feeling uncomfortable with the sudden certainty that JARVIS is thinking.

“They would all be comforted knowing that you didn’t risk your safety by leaving the tower at night on your own,” he says, finally.

Anne detects a question in his reply but doesn’t know exactly what it was.

“What if I deserve that risk?”

“Miss, I think that believing you deserve to be in danger is a speciality of Sir’s and as I have told him on many occasions; ‘don’t assume you are entitled to the pain’.”

JARVIS sounds so adamant with this that Anne starts twisting her fingers awkwardly. Why would Mr, Stark think like that? Anne is the one who worked for a terrorist organization, whether she chose to or not. Because of her weak will and desire to live, her ledger is dropping with blood, and she has no way of mopping it up. She can’t right her wrongs, but she can allow the world to punish her for them.

“I see you’re unconvinced, but if you would please just stay for the night, I’m sure Mr Stark would be happy to talk to you about this.”

“No!” Anne shouts, looking up at the ceiling pleadingly. “Please don’t tell him about this conversation. I’ll stay, I swear it, but please don’t tell him.”

JARVIS is silent again, and its silence in a way that suggests he’s not going to reply. Anne swallows her panic and lays back down, wrapping her arms around herself in a sad attempt at a self-hug.

She should never have come here, but how was she to know that Mr Stark would even bother to listen to her, let alone look out for her. She’s never had anyone look out for her before. It makes her feel... in debt. And she hates that.

Tomorrow she’ll leave and move to another city. New York was only causing her problems anyway. Too many threats, too many familiar faces. It’s better if she just disappears. Even the genius that is Tony Stark won’t be able to track her down.

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

Anne jumps at JARVIS’ voice and glares at the ceiling.

“You and Sir both have a strange habit of talking aloud without meaning to.”

Anne sinks back into the bare mattress and frowns. It’s not the first time someone has pointed this out to her, and it’s annoying that she can’t seem to get a lid on it. She assumes that it’s something to do with spending so much time either alone or around idiots and needing to voice her thoughts out loud, either to help her think about them critically or to enlighten those around her.

“Sir would search for you if he thought you were in any danger.”

“Why would he bother? Why is he even letting me stay?”

“For the same reason, you want to leave.”

Anne falls asleep as she thinks about that.

 

 

~

 

 

Tony wakes up with a portal hangover. There’s no other way to describe it. His head pounds, his body aches, and his stomach turns. He feels like he’d spent the night before drinking a bar dry and taking a nightcap at a brewery. All of this while being completely sober.

“Ugh,” he groans as he tries to sit up.

His arms won’t hold his weight and he collapses backwards with a grunt.

“How’re you feeling, Tones?”

Tony squints and spots Clint sat on the ridge of the sofa looking down on him like a vulture assessing its prey.

“I’d feel a lot better if the first thing I saw when waking up wasn’t you.”

Clint smiles so wide that he looks manic and then gracefully stands up and backflips, landing and bowing like the show-off that he is:

“You’re lying. Everyone loves waking up to handsome.”

“I think someone’s been telling you white lies, Hawkass,” Tony grumbles as he moves to sit up again. “God, I feel like shit.”

“Yeah, you look like it too,” Clint comments. “Need anything?”

“Coffee?”

Clint sets about in the kitchen without complaint and so Tony is instantly suspicious. He doesn’t have to chance to question the sudden altruism of the famously lazy archer, because, at that moment, JARVIS speaks.

“Sir, I think it might interest you to know that Anne has discovered the ventilation system.”

Clint looks up in surprise and then to Tony in confusion.

“Anne is still in the tower?”

“Yes, sir. Otherwise, the comment would inconsequential.”

“Thanks J, your sarcasm is just what I need after waking up. Is she in the vents?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why?”

Silence. Tony is instantly suspicious.

“Did you tell her that it was Clint’s favourite way to travel?”

“I may have worded it differently.”

Tony groans, and then looks to Clint desperately.

“You want me to find her?”

“Please. I don’t want her getting lost, and J isn’t as omnipresent as I’d like.”

“She probably won’t get hurt. I’ve got like, ten nests in there. She’ll probably stumble across one and fall asleep.”

“She’s not a wounded kitten, Clint. She’s a teenager, and those people are wild. Lord knows what she’s doing in there.”

“Ok, ok. I’ll go find the kid, but I’ll bet you ten dollars that she’s perfectly fine.”

“You win!” Anne calls, her voice echoing from the vents.

Tony and Clint watch as the vent slides open mechanically, and Anne drops down with all the grace of a gymnast. She grins widely and looks between the two men.

“How cool are those vents? Though, I think you might have an infestation of humans, Mr Stark. I found two blanket piles that looked like people had been sleeping in there. I found a candy bar though, so I’m not complaining.”

“Hey, that’s mine!”

“Snooze you lose, Mr Clint!” Anne laughs as she takes a bite. “Ew. How old is this?”

Anne spits the bar out into the sink while Clint snickers as he leans against the kitchen island, two cups of coffee in his hand.  
Tony watches on and finds it odd that it seems so oddly domestic.

“That bar has probably been in there since I moved in.”

“That’s disgusting!”

“I’ve been called worse.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second.”

Steve walks in while they’re happily bantering, and looks to Tony as if he’s there to offer context to all situations.

Tony just shrugs.

“Morning Captain America, sir. Tell me, did you have nice American dreams?” Anne asks, innocently.

Steve rolls his eyes and moves to take one of the cups from Clits hands, but with some expert manoeuvres and a sly smile, Clint averts his thievery and skips over to Tony to give him his mug.

“Thanks, Clint. Much appreciated.”

“Oh, can you stick on the star-spangled coffee machine?” Anne asks. “I could use a cup-o-joe.”

“For that comment, no coffee for you,” Steve laughs at her faux anger and pulls two cups down.

“So, Anne, would you like to tell us a little about yourself?” Steve asks, conversationally.

He has his back to Anne, so he doesn’t see how she stiffens and takes a slow step away. Clint, however, is more observant than he seems, and instantly jumps to Anne’s rescue.

“All we need to know is that she’s hilarious,” Clint calmly chirps in. “And maybe your actual age.”

“I’m nineteen!” she says, earning her three identically sceptical looks. “Whatever. Most guys believe it.”

She seems to realize what she’s said a little too late, and the implications hit them all harder than they’d expected.

“Young Miss, might I recommend unpacking your room now?” JARVIS intervenes.

Anne nods shakily and retreats back downstairs.

Tony, Clint and Steve all remain in stunned silence, unsure what to do. Thankfully, for all their sanities, Natasha and Bruce choose that moment to rock up and pour themselves a cup of coffee.

“You all look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Natasha says, suspiciously. “What’s wrong?”

“Speaking of ‘wrong’, Tony, I’d like to give you a quick check-up to make sure you came back to us unscathed.”

“I see how it is, Brucey. You’re not ‘that kind of doctor’ until it comes to torturing me?”

Bruce ignores the whining and begins to pull a stethoscope from his briefcase and some vials for blood samples.

“Oh, Bruce, no! No needles!”

Steve, still looking a little shell-shocked from Anne’s little reveal, heads over to assist Bruce in holding Tony down while Clint moves towards Natasha.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, immediately able to pick up on his worry.

“Natasha, you’re a girl.”

“How wonderfully perceptive of you, Clint. When did you figure that out?”

“I just mean that Anne might be a little more open to you. She’s just said something that... well, we don’t know how to take it, really.”

Clint explains the conversation and Natasha’s features tighten ever so slightly, enough that Clint can tell she’s worried too.

“I’ll speak to her when she’s ready.”


	4. Just... learn to breathe.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get worse before they get easier. #Typical #Avengers4lyf

Anne is sat on the floor of the room with the boxes out in front of her, and things spread out around her. A Lamp, a computer, bedding, a new phone, an MP3, posters of bands she hasn’t heard of, and a few of bands she does know. She can’t stop thinking about how much effort Tony has put into the room, and she can’t figure out why.

“Anything I can help you with?” JARVIS asks.

“I think I’m ok.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m fairly certain I know how I’m feeling,” Anne bites out, acidly, before reigning in her misdirected anger. “Sorry, Mr Jarvis. I didn’t mean that.”

“No worries, Miss. I guarantee I’ve heard worse from Sir. He regularly threatens to send me and the bots to community college.”

“The bots?” Anne looks up with sudden interest. “Mr Stark has real live robots?”

“Yes, miss. You, Dummy and Butterfingers.”

“Those better be their names because I’m not sure how I feel about being bullied by a voice in the ceiling.”

“They have been appropriately named by Sir.”

“Can I meet them?”

“I imagine Sir will want to introduce them at some point.”

“Can’t I go now? I want to meet them!”

“Patience, young miss,” JARVIS encourages.

“Fine,” Anne huffs.

She turns her attention back to the goods that surround her. She slowly starts to pick things up and sets them in their right places, every now and then stopping to consider the implications of her doing this. She can’t just move in. That’s ridiculous. She shouldn’t allow herself to feel so comfortable in a stranger’s house, but if she’s being honest it’s better than what she has at the hostel. Safer too. But she knows, objectively, that she doesn’t deserve it. It’s a lot to accept, and more to take in that she’s prepared for. Why would Mr Stark willingly open his doors to her when he knows she’s partially to blame for what happened to him in Afghanistan? Maybe it’s a trick and he has plans to get revenge? That, she definitely deserves.

“I assure you that Sir has no intention of punishing you for your past actions.”

“Dammit Mr Jarvis, can’t a girl talk out loud in peace?”

“My apologies, next time I’ll put you on mute.”

Anne shakes her head, unable to stop herself smiling. She likes Mr Jarvis. He’s funny and relentlessly honest.

She finishes setting up with the computer, putting it on the desk and plugging everything in. She switches it up and starts to install all the software she needs.

“Mr Jarvis, what can you tell me about making an AI?”

“I think Sir would be better equipped to help you in that area.”

“Is he an AI?” Anne asks, rhetorically. “Because surely you’re the most knowledgeable since you are one.”

“Touché, Young Miss, but I didn’t build myself.”

“But surely you have unrestricted access to your own programming?”

“I do,” JARVIS replies. “I could give you some basic information.”

“And AI would appreciate it,” she says, snickering at her own joke.

 

 

~

 

 

“Bruce, come on, stop!” Tony complains, as he unsuccessfully struggles against Steve’s grip on his arm. “You don’t need my blood.”

“Tony, stop wriggling. You’ll make this harder than it needs to be,” Bruce urges.

“Good!”

“Come on, you’re a scientist. You know why this is necessary.”

Tony opens his mouth to complain again, but at that moment the needle slides into his arm and he squeezes his eyes closed. It doesn’t hurt as much as most of the things he’s suffered through in his life, but the shock and his hatred of needles together make it feel so much worse than it is.

“There we go, was that so bad?” Bruce asks, and Steve lets go.

“Yes,” Tony mutters petulantly. “When did you get so mean?”

“Abject cruelty, Tony. It’s honestly for your own good. I’ll let you know the results when I get them,” Bruce promises. “Now, how are you feeling?”

“Good as new,” he replies, moving to stand up.

Unfortunately, the moment his legs straighten out, his knees buckle beneath him.

“Oh, real convincing,” Clint calls from the kitchen.

“Shut up, Katniss,” Tony gripes as Steve pushes him back onto the sofa.

“We have no idea what the portal did to your molecular make-up. For all we know, it scrambled all your cells. We might have to study them a little closer to get a better idea of what happened.”

Tony is rubbing his arm and grumbling under his breath about overpowering super soldiers and mean green machines when what Bruce had said clicks.

“What happened to the boy?”

Bruce’s eyes flash green, and Steve is instantly shifting around like an admonished child.

Clint vaults over the sofa and lands in the armchair, for once looking serious.

“S.H.I.E.L.D took custody of him.”

“You let them arrest a child?”

“I don’t think ‘let’ is the right word. More like ‘we didn’t argue when Fury threatened to cut our arms off if we tried to not let him do his job’.”

“I don’t think that works grammatically,” Tony says, but he sighs. “They’ve kidnapped a child. I hope for their sake that they went through the appropriate channels because I will fund the lawyer that takes them to court.”

“I think his parents were brought in,” Bruce says, though he doesn’t sound convinced.

“JARVIS, did you manage to record anything from inside the portal?”

“My systems were online for five seconds, so I have data relating to both you entering and exiting the portal, and the barest of the inside.”

“It’ll do. Set it on the holo-screens for me. I’ll be down in the lab in five.”

“I don’t think so, Tony. That portals have left you weak and light headed. You need to rest for a while. Let me run the tests and once we know how to restore you to full health, you can go back down.”

Tony looks mortally offended by the restrictions.

“Awesome, that means you can play video games with me!” Clint crows excitedly.

Tony’s annoyance disappears in seconds.

 

 

~

 

 

“Miss Anne, your presence is requested on the community floor.”

“Why?”

“They wish for you to join them playing video games. However, might I suggest resting? You slept for two hours and fifty-two minutes last night.”

“That’s the creepiest thing anyone has ever said to me,” Anne points out as she makes her way to the elevator. “Your worry is noted, Mr Jarvis, but you don’t have to fret. I’m a grown woman. I can sleep whenever I want.”

“I don’t think we need to revisit the etymology of ‘grown’,” JARVIS jibes. “But as you wish.”

Anne grins gratefully at the camera and then steps out into the lounge when she finds Mr Stark and Mr Clint playing Mario kart rather aggressively.

“Anne!” Clint cheers at her arrival and she feels a blush crawling up her face. “You came! Wanna join in?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Anne sits next to Mr Stark and waits for them to finish their round. When Tony goes to hand her the remote, he finds her face pressed against the armrest and her eyes closed.

“She fell asleep?” Tony asks no-one in particular. “How?”

 

“Generally, sir, one closes their eyes and drifts,” JARVIS offers, though slightly quieter than usual. “She didn’t sleep much last night, sir.”

“Oh,” Tony stares at Anne for a little while before turning to Clint and lowering his voice considerably. “She’s not OK, is she?”

“I don’t think so, but I don’t know her. I don’t even know how you know her.”

Tony shrugs.

It’s not his business to share, really. And he feels like he’s breaking her trust by even thinking about talking about it. She deserves better. She shouldn’t have to suffer through the constant breaks in trust that he had to. She needs a new life, a better one, and if he throws enough money towards her and offers her a shoulder to cry on, maybe that will work.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Tony, you’re throwing all the big questions at me today, dude. I’m not sure what to tell you. She’s a kid, a teenage girl, and she’s clearly troubled. She probably needs some kind of help, but I don’t know if you’re the right person to give it to her. Maybe you are? Who can say? I can’t.”

Tony looks back down at Anne who looks so much younger in sleep. Definitely not nineteen, no matter how much she might contest. Probably an orphan, definitely tortured, likely all alone.

Tony is still repaying for his past, and Anne needs someone to be there for her, to help her overcome the demons she’s be forced to accumulate. More than anything, convincing her that she’s allowed to accept kindness is going to be hard. Tony knows from personal experience that after spending so long around people who don’t care for you, it’s hard to believe that anyone ever could. He’s not sure what kind of traumas she had to suffer at the hands of the Ten Rings, but she’s said enough for him to make an educated guess. She’ll definitely need to see a psychologist, but it’ll take time to build up to that.

“You’re thinking real loud,” Clint whispers, elbowing him.

Tony rolls his eyes and turns back to the TV, ready to give Clint the beat down again.

“Shut up, loser.”

 

 

~

 

 

Anne wakes up to the feeling of being carried. She lets herself drift for a minute before panic sets in. The last time she remembers being carried like this was when she’d first been kidnapped by the Ten Rings.

 

A scream builds up in her throat and she hits whatever is holding her with her fist and tries to flail with her legs.

“Woah, calm down!”

Anne opens her eyes, but in the midst of her panic, she struggles to see anything properly. She continues to struggle until she feels herself being lowered onto a bed.

“Anne, calm down!”

Anne doesn’t stop. She screams, and she kicks, and she punches. Every movement hurt, and eventually, she feels herself being restrained.

“JARVIS, what do I do?” the voice calls out, desperately.

“She appears to be experiencing a panic attack,” the calming voice replies. “She needs to get her breathing on track and she needs to be grounded.”

“Grounded? What do you mean?”

“Anne,” JARVIS says. “Anne, listen to my voice. You’re in Avengers tower with Captain Rogers. You’re in your room. We’re in New York City. It’s eleven in the afternoon, and the temperature outside is currently seventy degrees Fahrenheit.”

Anne stops fighting, but she begins to shake.

“Anne?”

Anne ducks her head, unable to cope with the amount of concern in the captain’s voice.

“Are you ok?”

She’s not. She knows she’s not. But if she says no, he’ll probably want to stay, and he shouldn’t have to deal with her stupid problems.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

The captain laughs aloud, throwing his head back. Anne glares at him, and he has the sense to look mildly apologetic when he sees.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that you’re more like Stark than either of you realize. Even when he’s at his worst, he pretends there’s nothing wrong.”

Anne doesn’t know how she feels about the comparison, but she’s annoyed that she hasn’t been left alone to suffer in peace, and by the way that Steve settles against the back of the bed, she figures it’s not going to happen any time soon.

“You know, he once broke a leg, three ribs and got a severe concussion and told us all he was perfectly fine, even as he was passing out inside the suit.”

The captain recalls the memory with fondness in his tone.

“If it wasn’t for JARVIS selling him out, he’d have kept it to himself until he eventually healed.”

Anne can’t help but think that it’s ridiculous, but also not a fair thing to liken her to. She’s not broken physically, only mentally.

“He still hasn’t told us anything about you, you know. I don’t want to freak you out, but we’re all willing to listen if you want to talk about it,” he says, sounding truthful. “I know that if you’re anything like Tony, it’s worth mentioning that you won’t be burdening us at all.”

Anne doubts this very much, but she figures that any attempts to disagree will lead him to feel obliged to repeat himself.

“I am really fine.”

“Sure, and a bear doesn’t shit in the woods.”

Anne is stunned into silence by the curse word. It’s not like she’s never heard one before, but she always expecting Captain America to be the embodiment of Christian and American ideals. To hear him curse is like hearing a dog talk. She would never have expected it.

“That’s the exact look Tony had on his face when he heard me swear for the first time, too,” the Captain notes, amused. “Say, how do you feel about watching a movie? Tony is constantly reminding me that I’m behind the times and should take the opportunity to update my pop culture. Care to partake in some educational entertainment?”

Anne nods nervously, not sure if she should admit that she too hasn’t watched a movie in years, and half the time she has no idea what people are talking about when they mention TV shows or movies.

“I’ve heard Harry Potter is worth my time. Have you seen it?”

Anne shakes her head, but she’s heard that it’s really good so she’s willing to waste a few hours watching it.

 

 

~

 

 

A few hours turns into two days’ worth of marathons that eventually draws all of the Avengers in. Anne is still struggling to get her mind around the fact that Mr Stark is letting her stay there, rent free, and that she’s hanging around with superheroes. It’s kind of terrifying, but she doesn’t want to admit it out loud. They’re all still very skittish around her like she might break or something.

Mr Stark keeps disappearing from the lounge, and each time he gets up to go to the workshop, Steve watches with a longing expression. At first, Anne assumed that it was because Steve was in love with Mr Stark, but it soon became clear that it was a look borne from worry. Mr Stark would stay downstairs for days on end, and every moment he wasn’t there added an ounce of worry to Steve’s expression.

Anne decided to do something about it.

“Hey, Mr Jarvis?” Anne asks as she steps into the elevator one night.

“Yes, Young miss?”

“First, call me Anne. Second, where is Mr Stark?”

“He’s in the workshop.”

Anne doesn’t fail to notice that he’s refused to acknowledge the first request, but she figures that’s a battle for another day.

“Can I go down?”

JARVIS is silent for a second longer than before, and Anne figures he’s asking permissions on her behalf.

“He says he’d be honoured by your presence.”

“Awesome!”

The elevator noiselessly moves down to an unfamiliar floor. The wall is built up of glass, and there are several doors. Only one section, the largest of three, is opaque, so Anne makes an educated guess about which one he is behind. JARVIS slides the door open and low and behold, Mr Stark is in there.

He looks up as he watches her enter, a kind smile on his clearly exhausted face.

“Anne, I wondered how long it would take for you to get curious.”

“About the Lab or about why you don’t hang out upstairs with us?”

Mr Starks face goes rigid at that, and he looks a little panicked.

“I didn’t... it’s not that... I’m just a busy man, you know. Lots of responsibilities. It’s nothing to do with you... I hope you didn’t...”

“Mr Stark, you’re breaking up. Are you going through a tunnel?”

Tony frowns at her, but it doesn’t carry any heat. She’s just glad he stopped babbling. It was making her uncomfortable.

“So, did you come down to guilt trip me?” he asks, recovering from his stutter.

“I came down to see what cool stuff you had here,” she admits. “And to guilt you a little bit.”

Tony grins and spreads his arms out wide.

“Welcome to my home.”

Anne’s attention zeroes in on three robots that are stood around a large worktop.

“No way! Are those the robots Mr Jarvis was talking about?”

“Mr Jarvis?” Mr Stark looks up at the cameras with a smile. “I bet you love that.”

“Yes, sir, I do. I find it more civil than being called a traitor.”

“Put that snark away, J, or I’ll edit your code.”

Anne is gloriously oblivious to their squabbling as she approaches the first of the three robots. It’s got a long crane-like neck with a claw on the end. It whirs as she comes closer, and despite her best efforts not to, she flinches and falls backwards.

“Naughty, Dummy!” Mr Stark shouts as he rushes to Anne’s side and helps her stand up. “Don’t scare the children.”

“I’m not a children,” Anne grumbles, trying to hide her embarrassment. “What’s its name?”

“Dummy is her name, and for good reason too.”

Anne hesitantly holds out her hand, and just as she’s thinking about how stupid she is for doing it, Dummy takes her hand in ta claw and undeniably shakes it.

“You’re so cool,” she whispers to the bot.

“Don’t inflate her ego,” Mr Stark jokes. “That over there is You, and over there is Butterfingers. They’re all harmless, but stupid.”

All three bots make noises of protest, and Anne lights up with excitement.

“I want to make a robot!” she exclaims but makes no move to even try.

She skips towards You and You begins to show off, which makes the other two jealous. All three crowd her, and Dummy brings her a ball.

Tony is caught between wanting to get this SI prototype VR system done, and watching Anne interact with his three greatest inventions. She’s been so tightly wound since she got at the tour, and Tony has feared that she was going to run at any moment.  
He and JARVIS had talked about it after JARVIS informed him of her initial intentions. He was reminded just how much he loved JARVIS at that moment.

He should have thought about how she would see his hermit behaviour since she had no idea that he was like that long before she came onto the scene. She must have thought he was avoiding her.

“Hey, Mr Stark?”

“Yeah?” Tony spins around when he realizes that she’s managed to sneak up on him.

“I didn’t think you were avoiding me.”

Tony smacks his forehead and groans, which elicits a laugh from Anne.

“I said that out loud?”

“I didn’t hear all of it if that helps.”

Tony shakes his head and turns back to his project.

“Wanna see what I’m building?”

“If I guess right the first time, can I start building a robot instead?”

“Hey, have at it, kid. Use whatever you need.”

Anne’s smile falls away and she stares at him in shock. Tony panics, wondering if he said something inappropriate, but she doesn’t look offended. Just uncertain.

“Are you serious?”

“What?” Tony waits for her to elaborate.

“You’re going to let me build an actual robot?”

“Yeah. I don’t see why not.”

“I don’t see why yes, either.”

“I feel like that kind of talk could send this conversation into quite the spiral. Look, if it’s something you want to do, you should do it. I’ve always wanted to pass my knowledge down, and besides, building a robot is how I got my MIT degree. Maybe you can go there too?”

“I... um, you’re going a little fast there, Mr Stark. I haven’t even started going back to high school, yet.”

“That’s not ok,” Tony says, shocked. “How long have you been back from... vacation?”

“Really? We’re calling it a Vacay? I guess that encourages fewer questions.”

“Are you deflecting?”

“Are you?”

“What?” Tony rolls his eyes dramatically and levels her with a look. “I get that you’ve experienced some pretty rough stuff, Anne. And that it may seem impossible to talk about, but it gets easier when you do.”

“Oh yeah? Have you spoken to your team about having panic attacks yet? What is it, PTSD? Some kind of anxiety disorder? Did that get better after you have a nice talk with your team?”

Tony waits out we tirade valiantly, not flinching no matter how loud her voice gets. He stands his ground patiently as she glares back at him, silently heaving. And then he’s at her side when she grows pale and takes a step back.

“Oh my god, Mr Stark, I’m so sorry. I don’t... I didn’t mean... fuck...”

“Anne, you’re breaking up.”

Anne gives him a shaky smile, but as the blood returns to her face, so does a blush.

“I’m going to go to bed, I think,” Anne says, ducking around Tony and running back to the doors.

“You’re welcome back any time,” he calls after her.

Once she’s out of sight, Tony looks up at JARVIS, silently asking him to watch out for her. He doesn’t need a vocal reply to know that his request is being met.

 

 

~

 

 

Anne throws herself onto the bed angrily. She can’t believe how rude she was to Mr Stark, and she doesn’t understand why he hasn’t kicked her out of his home yet. She knows she deserves that. Who does she think she is, spitting such vitriol at him, after all he’s done for her? Especially after what she did to him. She is the reason he was with the Ten Rings in the first place. Sure, the Stane dude requested it, but she was the one who set it up, regardless of whether she didn’t want to.

And it only gets worse from there. She is also the reason countless people died. She should suffer for that. She shouldn’t be allowing herself to get comfortable at this circus, with all these freaks. They’re great, there’s no doubt about that, but she isn’t allowed friends. She made that decision after the first time she was made to put through a hit on a small village in Afghanistan. She’s abhorrent, and everyone here seems to think that she’s blameless. And why? Because she’s a child? She’s practically an adult now. They should treat her as such.

Anne is contemplating the merits of turning herself over to the authorities when there is a hesitant knock at the door. She immediately turns to face a camera, waiting for Mr Jarvis to tell her who’s there. It’s weird that the only person she currently trusts is a computer, but she figures it makes sense since she knows how they work. And Mr Jarvis is super nice and uncomplicated like other people are.

“It’s Miss Romanoff,” JARVIS tells her.

Anne shakily stands up and opens the door slowly. She doesn’t mean to be scared of the woman, but she can tell from a mile off that Miss Romanoff is dangerous. And she’s done her reading on the Avengers before. She knows she’s the Black Widow, and therefore a master assassin.

“Hi,” Anne greets her, nervously. “Am I… is everything OK?”

Miss Romanoff’s face doesn’t change for even a second, and that worries Anne inexplicably. Maybe she’s in trouble? Mr Stark must have gotten annoyed with her lashing out earlier and wants to get rid of her. She doesn’t blame him. She’d get rid of her too. Anne sighs and lets her shoulders sag. She should pack.

“I wouldn’t bother. You’re not being cast out.”

Anne internally curses herself, but she relaxes a little when she sees a humoured smirk on Miss Romanoff’s face.

“You are Stark could be related,” she says. “You both talk aloud randomly, and neither of you seems to realise you’re doing it.”

“You’re not the first person to say something to that effect,” Anne admits. “Personally, I don’t see it. Mr Stark is a genius. I’m just…”

Miss Romanoff raises an eyebrow, but Anne thinks she already knows what she was going to say.

“To what do I owe this visit, Miss Romanoff?” Anne says, hoping to distract her by turning the attention away from herself.

“I’m here to talk to you, actually, woman to woman.”

Anne pulls a face because that sounds like Miss Romanoff is expecting some kind of emotional discussion, and Anne doesn’t really feel like engaging in that right now. In fact, she can’t think of anything she’d like to do less.

“As excited as you clearly are to start talking, I think it’s best if I go first,” Miss Romanoff begins, gently, “I can tell that you’re struggling with something, and while Tony has refused to share any details about how you met, I can smell guilt from a mile off. I want you to know that guilt is a natural response to a lot of things; most of the time it’s unfounded. I don’t think you deserve to burden yourself with so much.”

“You don’t know me, or what I’ve done,” Anne whispers, desperate for Miss Romanoff to stop. “I’ve done unspeakable things, things I can never make up for.”

“Were they your choice?”

That throws Anne a little and she stumbles over her next words.

“I... well, technically it was...”

“Technicalities aside, did you want to do them? Did you outrightly choose to commit to these actions? Or were you forced?”

Anne feels distinctly uncomfortable with how much Miss Romanoff is guessing correctly. Because no, she didn’t. Every time she was made to do what she did, she never once walked into it willingly.

“That’s not the point. The point is that I didn’t fight hard enough to stop.”

“That’s not the point, Anne, and I don’t know why you’re so adamant on convincing yourself that it is,” Miss Romanoff sighs. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re a child. Exactly how much could you have fought? Did you ever stand a chance of winning?”

“No, but if I’d just... I could have... if I wasn’t so selfish I’d have killed my self before I was made to cause any more damage.”

Miss Romanoff levels her with a look that Anne can’t quite read. She has the disturbing feeling that she’s being read like a book. Damn Miss Romanoff and her super spy skills.

“And where would that have left the people forcing you into it?”

“They would have...” Anne considered it for a minute before realizing the truth. “They’d have made someone else do it.”

“Exactly.”

Anne frowns because this understanding doesn’t make anything feel less like her fault.

“Guilt is a dangerous thing when you force it upon yourself and refuse to let go,” Miss Romanoff explains. “I know you think your situation is unique, but you’re in a tower filled with people who have unique backstories. Just wait until you meet Thor. The man is a literal god, and even he doesn’t get the monopoly on unique.”

Anne doesn’t really know if she can or is expected to respond to that. She can’t think of anyone in history that was forced into something but wasn’t still blamed for it afterwards. Does her being a child exempt her from this rule? Should it?

“We’re alike,” Miss Romanoff says after a silence.

Anne realizes that she may have been considering whether to share this information, and she almost looks pained as she talks. That’s motivation enough for Anne to keep completely silent.

“When I was a child, I was sent to a place they called ‘the red room’,” Miss Romanoff continues. “I was trained from a very early age to become an assassin. I was made to kill people for tests and I once burned down an entire hospital because it was an order. An order that I couldn’t say no to. I have red in my ledger, just as I think you do, but every blemish was on the prerogative of someone else. I never had a decision to make. Not until Clint showed me a different life. One where the only orders I took were from people I trusted and the lives lost on my watch were criminals who threatened innocents. I know what you suffered through. I understand, and I want you to know that I don’t blame you. It wasn’t your fault.”

Anne bites her lip. She’s still not convinced, and she feels oddly warier of the woman in front of her now. She seems, if possible, more dangerous.

“I think it will be good for you to talk to someone, but you’re under no obligation to. You won’t be made to leave if you don’t. The only thing that will happen is that things won’t get easier for you. They’ll either maintain or they’ll get worse. That is your prerogative.”

Anne nods, and shifts on the bed, uncomfortably. She feels super awkward, because the spy with no facial expressions has just told Anne her life story, and Anne isn’t replying.

“I’ll see you later.”

Anne nods and watches Miss Romanoff leave, feeling awkward for not saying something, but nothing comes to mind.

Anne starts to pace the room, suddenly filled with useless energy that she doesn’t know what to do with.

“Mr Jarvis?”

“Yes, young miss?”

“Are you connected to my computer?”

“Yes.”

“Can you show me all the information on how to build a robot?”


	5. Legally Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this chapter was written pre-plot so I was kinda stuck for how to keep the story going. So, this is what I did. Is it weird that I feel bad for doing this to a fictional character? Cause I do.
> 
> Anyway, YAY SPONTANEOUS CHAPTER UPDATE.
> 
> Hope you like it.

 

“Stark?”

Tony groans, and spins around in his desk chair.

“What is it, cap?”

“You’ve been down here a while, I was just wondering if you were hungry?”

Tony rolls his eyes and turns back to his computer. He’s got to figure out these portals in case they ever come in contact with them again. He needs to put something in his suit that will keep JARVIS running no matter what.

“It’s barely been two days. Can’t a man get some peace?”

“Stark, Anne hasn’t come out of her room since. She’s not eating, though JARVIS has restricted access to her computer until she does. It seems she’s studying how to build a robot and, as she put it; ‘is on a roll that she can’t just stop’. I think you should talk to her.”

“Can’t one of you guys do it? What’s the point in having a team if you can’t boss them around?”

“I am, right now. It’s an order.”

“An order? Cap, in case you haven’t noticed yet, I’m not on your team. Get Clint to do it. She likes him.”

“He’s tried. We all have.”

“So, I’m the last resort?”

“That’s... what do you mean you’re not on my team? Yes, you are.”

“False, Iron Man is on your team. Tony Stark isn’t.”

Steve looks lost for a moment before he realizes that Tony isn’t wrong. He leaves without another word and Tony smiles wryly.

He hesitates for a moment before standing up and following Steve out. To avoid further conversation, he takes the stairs up to his floor and then knocks on Anne’s door.

He hears JARVIS tell her who it is, which makes him smile because it’s good that she can trust someone, and then she calls out, inviting him in.

He opens to door and raises an eyebrow at what he sees. She’s sat on the floor, surrounded by books and notebooks and different colours pens, and directly in front of her is a large sheet of blueprint paper which the beginnings of a plan on it. On her desk are three mugs, each empty, and by her right hand is a half-full one.

“Hey, Mr Stark! Mr Jarvis is helping me build a robot. He even got me all these books to help, see! I’ve got the basic knowledge down already, but it’ll take a while to understand. Mr Jarvis told me that all your robots are learning bots, so I’ve been learning to make an AI just like Mr Jarvis! Isn’t that awesome? I don’t think I’ll be done for a while yet, but it’s really exciting stuff. I think it might actually work. Mr Jarvis even convinced me to send off my initial designs to MIT, and he used a recommendation from you, I hope that’s OK, so they might accept me early. He’s set me up with a school nearby so that I can take my GED too! Isn’t that cool? This is so exciting.”

Tony’s eyes widen as she talks, and he wonders if this is what he sounds like when he’s binge working.

“I’ve been informed that you haven’t slept for two days,” Tony says, bluntly.

“Oh, I see, Captain America sicced you on me, did he?” Anne laughs with a beaming smile. “He’s so boring. ‘You should sleep and eat properly, young lady. America demands it’.”

Tony barks out a laugh at her impression, and she turns back to one of the study books.

“I’m trying to figure out what kind of functions I want to set the learning AI up with, and I’m still struggling with some of the concepts for the mechanics of it all. I know you’re busy, but it there any chance...”

Anne seems to regret even asking, a manic look coming over her.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m just hopped up on caffeine. Sorry that you were even bothered to come and talk to me. I’ll tell the rest of the team not to interrupt you, I swear. They’re all acting like they can tell me what to do or something. Even Mr Jarvis has taken their side. Won’t let me back on the computer and has forbidden the coffee pot to turn on for me.”

Anne glares up at the ceiling, and static comes back in return. Tony is almost certain that JARVIS is laughing.

“You need to sleep, young miss, and the coffee is not helping.”

Tony laughs again because JARVIS is as much of a mother hen to him as he’s being to Anne. It warms his heart a little, but he wonders if Anne and he are actually as alike as everyone seems to think. She’s obviously not above putting her primary needs to the side for an interesting project and is so plagued with guilt that she doesn’t feel like she deserves anything good that life might try to offer.

“J, put the coffee pot on. I’m going to teach Anne how to make a robot.”

Anne cheers loudly and moves her papers to the side so that Tony can sit down. He lowers himself to the floor and together they begin talking up a storm, and Anne takes in every bit of information with excitement shining in her eyes.

 

~

 

“This isn’t what I meant when I asked you for help, Tony, but somehow I’m not surprised.”

Steve came into Anne’s room wearing his workout gear, which means he’s just been for a run. Tony barely even registers his presence, but Anne gives him a mock salute that already has him annoyed with how much Stark is rubbing off on her. Tony likes that, for some reason. Antagonising Capitan America is his second favourite activity.

“Tony, for goodness sake, she needs someone to get her to eat and sleep, not indulge her destructiveness.”

Both Anne and Tony glare at Steve with so much force that he takes a step back.

“I’m sorry Mr USA, but I don’t need anyone to do anything for me. And I don’t appreciate the implication that I can’t look after myself. Don’t presume to think that anyone here has any right to tell me what to do. If I want to stay up all week to build a robot, I will.”

Tony seems taken-aback by her outburst and he sighs like he’s just realized how stupid he was being.

“Dammit,” he mutters under his breath, heaving himself off the floor and stretching. “I need to go sleep.”

“You need food first,” Steve reminds him, a little gentler now that he knows his message is being received.

“I’m not hungry,” Tony says, waving away the suggestion.

“JARVIS, how long has Tony gone without food?”

“It’s been 36 hours since his last energy bar.”

“J, do we need to have words about doctor-patient confidentiality?”

“I’m not a doctor, Sir. Just a lowly AI.”

“Don’t be mean to Mr Jarvis,” Anne says, frowning.

That makes Tony smile again.

“Right, Steve is right. We need food and sleep.”

“But—”

“I wouldn’t try it, Anne,” Steve warns. “Tony’s tried it all, and it’s never worked.”

Tony pulls a face and it’s obvious to Anne that he’s not joking. 

“I’ve had to carry him out of his lab more time than I care to admit.”

Anne looks shocked now and positively scrambles to her feet. Steve would find it funny if it wasn’t for the panic attack he knows she suffered from the last time someone carried her. He tries not to think about why that is.

“Fine. I’ll eat and sleep if that will get you off my back.”

“It will.”

Anne glowers at Steve, but the effect is somewhat ruined by a yawn. She rubs her arms across her eyes and starts to walk from the room.

Steve and Tony walk on ahead and Steve immediately moves into the kitchen and starts pulling food from the fridge. Anne watches suspiciously, like she’s never seen anyone cook before, and when Steve asks her if she like chicken fried rice, she almost falls off of the chair in shock.

Tony watches her carefully, but nothing he sees makes him feel any better. He just feels progressively worse. Whatever has happened to this girl was bad enough that the effects are still resonating. If she’s as much like him as the team are claiming, then she’s already building up self-destructive tendencies. No good can come out of it, he knows that from personal experience.

“Here we are,” Steve says, laying plates out in front of them. “Enjoy!”

Anne looks down at the plate hesitantly and then watches as Steve sits down opposite and starts to eat slowly. She picks up the fork and carefully scoops as little food as she can and brings it to her mouth. Tony can’t stop staring, though he knows that if she notices it’ll make her uncomfortable.

Tony tears his eyes away from her and starts to eat too, moaning in pleasure at the taste.

“Can you please keep your gross sex noises to yourself while we’re eating? It’s inappropriate dinner time behaviour.”

Steve blushes and Tony grins. Anne rolls her eyes and takes another careful bite, but at some point, she must deem it acceptable or safe, Tony isn’t sure which, because she starts to eat with a little more gusto.

“This is really nice, Mr America, sir,” Anne says.

“... call me Steve. Please.”

Anne winks and smirks, but makes no promises, which Tony can appreciate.

They finish the food in silence, and Steve refuses their help with the clean-up, claiming that he can do it later and they needn’t worry. Anne is all ready to head back to her room and continue working, but Steve insists on walking her back.

“I know that you don’t intend to go to sleep, Anne. I wasn’t born yesterday.”

Anne huffs but allows it to happen. She quickly changes into her pyjamas in the bathroom and then climbs into bed under the careful watch on the good captain and Tony.

“You can leave now,” she says, grumpily.

“JARVIS, will you make sure she falls asleep, please?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What are you, a traitor?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying all along!” Tony grumps as Steve guides him out of the room.

 

~

 

The light is turned off, and Anne turns over, trying to find a comfortable position. This place is weird indeed, but if she’s going to stay here, she might as well take advantage of its benefits. Even if they include an over-protective mother-hen and a crazy genius billionaire.

 

~

 

Anne wakes up the next day feeling delirious with tiredness and a little sick. She groans as she forces her eyes open and almost immediately pitches over the side of the bed to vomit.

“Oh my god,” she breathes, looking down at the mess. “Oh my god.”

Anne quickly stands up but falls against the wall as the room starts to spin. Ignoring it, she drags herself towards the bathroom to get a towel. She quickly splashes her face and catches her reflection as she’s turning away. She looks pale, but her cheeks are flushed. She is _not_ well at all. That isn’t good. She quickly returns to the room to try and clean up before anyone notices, but she was never meant to be that lucky because just as she’s throwing the towel in the hamper, the door opens, and a very groggy looking Mr Stark comes in.

“Anne, are you OK? JARVIS said you were sick.”

“Mr Jarvis, can’t you let me die in peace?” she grumbles, but it sounds weak even to her ears.

She barely has a moment to think before she has to rush to the bathroom to throw up again. Mr Stark is at her side, rubbing her back and he continues to throw up.

“I’m sorry Mr Stark, you don’t… you can leave. This is gross.”

“J, can you get Bruce for me?”

“Ugh,” Anne throws up again before turning to Mr Stark. “Please, don’t… I’m fine.”

“I’d be more convinced if you weren’t emptying your guts right now,” he says back kindly. “Bruce is a doctor.”

“I’m not _that_ kind of Doctor, and you know it.”

Anne jumps at the appearance of the new voice, and Tony turns to face him.

“She’s sick, Bruce.”

“I made that assumption all on my own. Move out of the way. I’ll see what I can do.”

Anne doesn’t want another human being to see her like this, but she’s not given the chance to protest. Mr Bruce is relentlessly gentle with her, placing a hand on her forehead and checking her pulse, all the while her body continues to heave until there is nothing left.

“She’s got a low-grade fever and her heart rate is… slow. Which is unusual. I don’t think I can help, Tony. She needs to go to an actual doctor.”

“I don’t want to,” Anne complains, as Tony helps her to her feet.

“If you’re sick, it’s a matter of necessity, not want. Trust me, I know.”

Tony sounds regretful about it, but it doesn’t change the fact that Anne is powerless against him as he pulls her out of the room and into the elevator. Within seconds, Steve has joined them, and Anne groans again.

“You’re sick?”

“I’m _fine_ ,” Anne insists, but he pays no attention. “Mr Jarvis, did you tell the entire tower? Jesus.”

He places a cold cloth against her forehead and then, with a squeak of indignation, he picks her up bridal style. She tries to wriggle out of his grip, but she makes no headway. Settling for defeat, she leans her head against his shoulder and closes her eyes. She realizes she’s shaking a little belatedly, but it’s like a shiver, even though she’s not cold. She just feels _wrong._

“It’s probably just the flu,” she says. “I think I should just go… back…”

 

~

 

“Anne?”

Tony watches in horror and Anne completely loses consciousness. She hasn’t stopped shaking, which he is certain is a bad sign, and Bruce’s worried expression only confirms this. They move into the hospital wing and Steve puts Anne on the bed while Bruce goes to find a doctor. Tony stays at her bedside worriedly, fretting.

“Tony, calm down. The doctors will help. It’s probably just the flu. She’s been under a lot of stress and hasn’t been eating or sleeping properly. You’re the king of that, so you should know what it does to one's body. Plus, she’s so young. It’s bound to hit her harder.”

“I should have made sure she was looking after herself. I didn’t... she’s dealt with so much, I didn’t stop to think that she might not have the sense to care for herself.”

“She’s young and idealistic, Tony. She’ll be fine. Anyway, after this, I think we’re all going to make sure we’re looking after her a little better.”

Bruce comes back into the room with a doctor who introduces himself and then asks them to leave the room while he administers some tests.

Tony and Steve stand outside of the room just like they did only a few days ago, but it feels like aeons. Tony feels so worried that he’s a little nauseous from it, and Steve looks concerned for both of them.

“I’m sure it’s just the flu,” he repeats hopefully.

“I’m afraid this isn’t just a run of the mill flu,” the doctor says as he invites them back into the room. “This is something much more serious. I’m going to need some scans to be certain, but I advise getting a specialist in. I’ll have one of the nurses give you a list of surgeons who you can trust.”

Tony sits down heavily in the chair beside Anne’s bed and stares up in horror as the doctor begins to explain the situation.

“We’re going to run a preliminary MR scan before we make any snap judgments, but you need to be prepared for the news being bad.”

Tony looks up at Steve, begging for something, he knows not what, and Steve, in turn, looks terrified.

He stays with Tony as they wheel Anne out and within an hour they’re back and Bruce’s grim face says it all.

“She has a brain tumour. It’s not inoperable, but there’s no time to wait. There’s one man, his name is Dr Strange. He’s a world-renowned surgeon and maybe the only person I can think of that will even attempt it.”

Tony just nods shakily, and Bruce leaves the room, saying he’ll make the call. Tony just stares at Anne. She looks so frail and vulnerable in the bed, now wearing a paper gown. Even in sleep, her face is pulled into a frown, and her pale face accentuates the dark circles under her eyes.

“How long?” Steve asks.

“How long what?”

“How long has it been there?”

“It looks to be a few months old.”

“Isn’t it painful? Shouldn’t she have had symptoms by now?”

“Absolutely. She will have suffered severe headaches and probably delusions too.”

“I should have asked,” Tony says, regrettably.

“There’s no way you’d have known, Tony. You can’t blame yourself,” Steve says, trying to stay calm.

“How long is the recovery period?” Tony asks.

“Assuming the surgery goes well? A few weeks at most.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Then there is no recovery period. The surgery is the only hope she’s got.”

Tony puts his face in his hands and lets out a broken sob.

How has he managed to ruin this girl’s life again? He should have had JARVIS run scans or he should have made her initial hospital stay in the tower a little more thorough. His laxness has failed her. She could die because of him.

“Mr Stark?”

Tony looks up to find Anne looking at him with a worried expression.

“Are you ok?”

“Am I ok?” Tony chokes on a laugh. “I’m fine. You, on the other hand, are not. Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?”

Anne looks confused and turns to the doctor.

“What’s wrong with me? Is it something to do with the headaches?”

Tony groaned louder this time, looking faint. He can’t believe she’s known about this for any amount of time and not been to see someone about it.

“Yes. It is.”

“Cancer?”

Anne says it so calmly like it’s no big deal that she’s got something so serious. It blows Tony’s mind that she’s so blasé.

“Yes.”

Anne nods.

“Terminal?”

“That’s up for debate at the moment.”

Anne nods again.

“Ok.”

“Ok?” Tony almost screams, his hands in his hair. “Ok? That’s all you have to say? Ok?”

“What am I supposed to say, Mr Stark?” Anne asks, looking scared and a little angry. “Am I supposed to lament the shortness of my life? Cry that it could be ending?”

“Something like that!”

“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint, but it’s not been much of a life to miss at this point. I spent years with the Ten Rings and every minute of it was torturous. I get out only to spend months in Afghanistan with no way home, near starving, kidnapped by creeps more times than I can count. Then when I get back to the US they act like they suddenly care and put me in a children’s home? I’m not for this life, Mr Stark so forgive me if I don’t grieve for it.”

Tony is stunned into silence, but Steve looks appalled.

“The Ten Rings? The same people who kidnapped Tony?”

Anne looks like she’s just realizing that other people are there. She shrugs and starts to twist the sheets in her fingers.

“My lord, I've known they were bad but this... how old were you?”

“I was…” she looks at Tony, and then back down at her hands. “I was five and a half.”

Steve chokes on his shock and Anne looks away. Tony’s heart just drops into his stomach.

“Five?”

“And a half,” she adds like it’s relevant. “Like I said, I was a child genius.”

Bruce chooses that moment to reappear looking grim, but slightly more put together than Steve and Tony.

“Dr Strange has agreed to a consultation. He’ll be here in four hours. We need to provide him with a scan and a meeting with Anne.”

“I want to be there for it,” Tony announces.

“Mr Stark, you don’t need to bother—”

“I’m going to be there for it. We need to discuss the power of attorney. Are you legally emancipated or can you be adopted? We need to make you living here legal so that you can get the care you need, and you can’t be taken back into the system at a critical time.”

Anne’s mouth hangs open in shock.

“What? No... you don’t—”

“Are you emancipated? I need a whole name. J, tell me what I need to know.”

Anne is frozen.

“Anne, come on. Full name.”

“Annabelle Alexis Aldridge.”

There’s a split second of silence, and then JARVIS starts to speak.

“Legally considered dead. Born: November 16th, 2001. Death: August 8th 2006. Cause of death: Unknown. Parents: Deceased. Cause of death: Car Accident. Next of Kin: N/A.”

Anne listens in horror as Jarvis lists her life.

“Well, if I’m already dead, the paperwork should be easy to get through.”

Tony groans into his hands and shakes his head. Anne grins wildly at him, but there’s something behind her eyes that suggests she doesn’t find it as funny as she’s making out that she does. Steve’s heart aches for her because she just doesn’t seem able to catch a break.

“I’m sure this Strange man can fix things,” Anne says, in a way that seems to be assuring herself rather than anyone else. “He can, right?”

Bruce looks unsure about what to say. He’s long since learnt not to make promises that he can’t keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been a little, uh, lax in my research for it because I'm a serious hypochondriac and didn't want to read about it. I'll do better, I promise.
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated.
> 
> Also, to Shannon_2003, my frequent commenter, I don't know who you are, but those love hearts give me the motivation I need to keep going, so thank you!


	6. Dr Strange as a real doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr Strange has come to save the day, and Thor is there to help Tony.

The next two hours went by in a stream of medical jargon. Anne holds a Stark pad in her hands, occasionally searching for a term she is unfamiliar with, and Tony she's that while Strange is explaining everything she would have to do in her recovery, she was searching for memes.

After Dr Strange had finished talking, Anne had sunk into her pillows, obviously exhausted. Tony walked Dr Strange to the elevator.

“Money isn’t an issue here, Doctor. I want everything done to save her life within your power.”

“Mr Stark allow me to assure you that I would not risk the life of a patient for the sake of money,” Strange says, sternly, but a second later his features soften. “It’s nice to see that the cold-hearted genius spiel the media likes to run with is all falsified. Where did you find her?”

“I didn’t find her,” Tony admits as Strange steps into the elevator. “She found me.”

Strange looks confused as the doors close, and Tony turns around and returns to Anne’s bedside as she continues to harass Bruce.

“I still have seven hours before my enforced starvation. Please!”

“What’s going on?” Tony asks, flinging himself into a seat by her bed.

“Anne is all but begging to be allowed to binge eat pizza and candy until she has to stop in prep for the operation.”

“I see no problem with this,” Tony adds in.

“See? If Mr Stark says it’s ok, then it must be. He is a genius.”

Bruce fixes Tony with a hard look, and Tony shrinks into himself a little, but he winks at Anne.

“Fine. Bruce has a point. It’s not advisable. Why don’t I pick us up some burgers and we’ll discuss whether we can gorge after you’ve got rid of the lump in your brain?”

Anne pouts and crosses her arms, but Tony assumed this is her saying ‘yes’. Tony looks up.

“On it, sir,” Jarvis says.

They talk about normal things, comfortable things until the food comes. It doesn’t take long for Anne to fall asleep and Tony and Bruce sit in the room silently.

Nervousness keeps Tony awake, but Bruce eventually succumbs to exhaustion. Tony watches as Anne sleeps for a little while before getting up and slipping out of the room. He heads towards the elevator.

“To the lab, J,” Tony orders.

“I’m afraid Captain Rodgers called for the elevator a millisecond before you gave the command,” Jarvis says, glibly, as he closes the door.

Tony groans and glares at the floor as the doors open on the communal floor. The elevator gives an obnoxiously loud ‘ding’ and Clint, Natasha, Steve and Thor all lookup.

“Anthony!”

Tony freezes as Thor descends on him and pulls him into a tight hug. Tony doesn’t know how to respond, so he pats the man’s arm.

“Good to see you too, Goldilocks,” Tony mutters. “When did you get back?”

“Big, Blonde and beautiful has been here almost a week,” Clint says, climbing over the sofa to offer Tony a tight shoulder squeeze. “How’re you holding up?”

“Me? I’m fine.”

None of the others looks convinced, and Tony doesn’t blame them. He wasn’t very convincing.

“Yeah, you, idiot,” Clint says, not-so-gently steering Tony into the lounge area. “You’ve not left her side for a long time. Are you eating and sleeping?”

Tony nods tiredly and doesn’t fight as he’s pulled down onto the sofa, cushioned between Clint and Thor.

“Jarvis, has Tony been eating and sleeping?” Steve asks, smiling wanly at Tony.

“Sir has eaten, on average, two meals a day since Miss Anne’s hospitalisation, and slept on average four hours a night.”

Tony sticks his tongue out rather childishly, but Steve doesn’t throw out his trademark ‘I’m disappointed in you’ look. Which is for the best, because something twists inside Tony’s heart when it does. Instead, he looks pleased.

Tony knows he shouldn’t feel pride at eating properly and sleeping at night, but Steve is pleased with him and it stirs some pretty embarrassing emotions within him. He should probably see a therapist about how he’s projecting his insecurities about his father onto his teammates. That’s definitely not healthy.

Clint chooses the movie, some weird animation and Tony wants to go to the lab to work himself into exhaustion until Anne’s surgery, but there’s no getting out of this. However, if he knows his teammates (and he’s not sure that he does), they’ll probably fall asleep before the movie is over, and he can extract himself then.

 

~

 

 

Tony massively underestimated just how tired he was. He doesn’t know when, since he wasn’t paying much attention, but at some point during the movie, he fell asleep. When he wakes up, it’s to Clint shaking his shoulder.

“Tony, wake up, man.”

Tony comes to slowly, and Clint helps him to sit up. He pressed a thermos of coffee into his hands and in Tony’s sleepy state, he drops it. He doesn’t react to the pain of burning down his leg. He just stares at his hand in shock. He can hear Clint yelling at him, but the words are a blur. Tony starts to shake, his eyes never leaving his hand.

“Fuck, Shit! Tones, I’m sorry. I… I forgot! Fuck. STEVE! Shit. Rodgers, get your arse in here, now!” Clint shouts. “Tony, snap out of it, please!”

Tony can’t snap out of it. He’s caught in a moment. A moment where he was forcibly handed something, and the memories flood back into him, every time he took something that changed his life in ways he couldn’t process.

Being handed the phone that told him his parents were dead. The time he was given a tool by his distracted father and it was too hot to handle. The time his mother gave him a tumbler of whiskey to shut him up when he was six. The time he was given a pill to ‘chill him out’ on his first day at MIT when he was fourteen. Each one of them changed him. Each one hurt him in ways he didn’t comprehend.

“Clint? What’s wrong?” Steve asks, panicked.

“I broke Tony,” Clint explains, miserably. “He’s shut down.”

Two heavy hands grip Tony’s shoulder, and he can feel hands on his legs, and something soft and cold being pressed against where the burn was.

“Tony, listen to me,” Steve urges.

“Mr Rodgers, if you don’t mind, I’ll take it from here,” JARVIS says, his voice calm. “Sir, it is July seventeenth two thousand and eighteen. It’s eight fifteen in the morning. It’s currently raining, though forecasts predict a ninety per cent chance of sunshine come twelve. Dr Strange will be here in forty-five minutes to begin preparation for Miss Anne’s surgery.”

Tony shoots upwards at the mention of Anne, the reminder he should be at her side bypassing all and any panic and kick-starting his mind. However, his body isn’t on the same page, and just as soon as he’s lurching forward, he’s falling back down. Steve grabs him, preventing him from being brained by the coffee table.

“Woah, there cowboy,” he says gently. “Take a minute or two.”

Tony frowns, blinking away his panic attack and swallowing the lump in his throat.

“Where are my pants?” he asks.

Clint huffs out a laugh and holds out his coffee-soaked jeans.

“Sorry, man,” Clint says, sounding ashamed. “It’s my fault.”

“Find me some pants and we’ll be square,” Tony says, trying to appear casual. “I need to go be with Anne. Help her get ready.”

Steve holds him down on the sofa and kneels in front of him. Tony feels like a restless child being calmed by his overly patient nanny. Tony knows this feeling all too well. Both real Jarvis and AI JARVIS have always been there to care for him, even when he was being impossibly stubborn.

“You need to let me put cream on your burn and put on pants. Anne might be a little disturbed by you showing up in boxers.”

Tony nods and waits for Steve to fix it for him. Steve chuckles and takes a cloth from a bowl of water on the coffee table. Tony watches as Steve wipes away the last of the coffee. Clint returns wearing a shy smile and holding out a pair of jogging bottoms and a tub of cream. He hands them both to Steve, who huffs out a sigh at the size of the joggers, but puts them to the side and starts to apply cream to Tony’s burn. When it’s generously coated, he pulls the pants towards Tony, who snaps out of his head.

“Thanks, mom, but I can dress myself.”

Tony snatches the parts with an exasperated sigh and pulls them up. He smiles brightly at Steve and Clint and tries to leave the room again, but Steve grabs his wrist.

“If you want to talk about it, we’re here for you,” he says, his voice low and gentle.

“He’s not a wounded animal, Steve,” Clint says lightly. “But yeah, we can, you know, hear… words… y’know, if you want to… speak them.”

“You’re bad at this,” Tony tells him.

“You think?” Clint punches him lightly in the arm gently. “We’ll come down during the surgery to bring you food, ok?”

Tony nods, and goes to the elevator, holding the massive jogging bottoms up to stop them falling to his ankles. He gives a jovial wave to Clint and Steve, who are watching him as the doors close. Tony slumps against the wall and sighs heavily as the elevator starts to move.

“You done fucked that up, Tony,” he mutters to himself.

Tony is by Anne’s bedside a minute later. She looks pale and her fingers are tangled in the fabric of the sheet. She smiles despite her aggressively persistent nerves, but when she sees the pants, she snorts.

“What are you wearing?”

“Pants. It’s the height of fashion these days. Not like you’d know,” Tony snarks. “Where’d you get that?”

“I believe they were made by this lame company,” she begins, grinning, “Called Stark Industries.”

“Touche,” Tony mutters, realising he set himself up for that one.

Anne’s shaky fingers fidget with the sheet and her smile becomes forced. Tony reaches out and grasps her shoulder, offering some comfort. She flinches but relaxes into it later.

“So, have you lost an incredible amount of weight recently, or…” Anne leaves the sentenced unfinished.

“Spilt coffee on my jeans.”

Anne raises her eyebrows, waiting for more, and when it doesn’t come, she huffs her annoyance.

“And you only own one pair of pants that fit?”

“No,” he says defensively. “I was in a rush and this was all Barton gave me to replace them.”

“Mr Barton has a weird sense of humour.”

“I’m not sure if it’s humour or if he’s just… confused.”

Anne giggles at that.

“Please refrain from discussing me in such a manner. I’m not a dog with rabies,” Clint says, grinning as he enters the room.

“You know that doesn’t make sense, don’t you?” Anne asks, trying to hold back a delighted smile. “I think confused is accurate.”

“That’s what she said.”

Tony groans as the two banter. He’s not sure when he became the adult in the situation, or if he’s even qualified for the job, but he shakes his head.

“Please, no jokes about S.E.X in front of the thirteen-year-old.”

Clint gasps dramatically, looking between Anne and Tony. His eyes are wide, and his mouth hanging open in apparent shock. Tony waits him out, knowing Clint is just trying to drive up suspense. When he sees the look on Anne’s face, he can see why. She looks intrigued, but also happy. Like she lives for this kind of stuff. Despite knowing she’s only just surpassed being a pre-teen, Tony has trouble dealing with how old she is.

“You’re thirteen?” Clint cries out. “But you told me you were nineteen. That’s a whole six years extra. You know the extra lives you win in video games are redeemable in real like, don’t you?”

Anne rolls her eyes, but her smile doesn’t falter. Tony can see the way she has her tongue trapped between her teeth as she grins, and he can’t help but notice how much younger she looks when she’s smiling.

Tony leaves the two to indulge each other in pointless banter while he goes to search out Bruce. Tony passes several unfamiliar doctors in the hallway, each one confusing her more than the last. Where had all these people come from? Tony plasters his favourite ‘I’m-an-arrogant-arsehole’ face on and walks purposefully forward.

“Mr Stark!”

Tony skids to a halt and spins on his heel. He finds Doctor Strange coming out of an office and striding towards him. He looks confident, and Tony wonders how much of it is real, and if he’s as masked as Tony himself is.

“I’ve brought in my team,” Strange says, explaining away the sudden influx of medical personnel.

“I’ve noticed,” Tony says.

“I’ve debriefed everyone, and we’re confident that our strategy to remove a tumour will be one hundred per cent successful.”

While what he says should be the cause of worldwide celebration, Strange manages to say it with all the enthusiasm of a man saying that the bus will be a minute early. Tony wonders how a man with such an exciting job can be so bland in personality. In fact,

Tony suspects that he might be a bit of a prick.

“The surgery will begin in an hour. Dr Banner has been helping me familiarise myself with the facilities.”

“I’ll take it they’re to your liking?” Tony enquires, uncertain as the where the conversation is going.

“Yes.”

Tony waits, and Dr Strange seems to be doing the same thing. He’s growing increasingly uncomfortable, but Dr Strange looks like he could wait forever without feeling awkward. That pisses Tony off.

“What do you need?” Tony asks, finally.

“Answers.”

“Care to ask the questions first?”

Dr Strange gives Tony a hard look. It’s like he’s trying to read Tony’s mind, deciphering his face for the answers to undetermined questions. Tony wants to walk away, snap something about his time being wasted and find Bruce. But he doesn’t. Call it intrigue or call it a stubborn annoyance. Tony stands his ground and waits.

“I need a full medical history,” Dr Strange says, with the air of someone who knows his request isn’t going to be met. “And I need to know who will be providing her with the aftercare she needs.”

Tony glowers at Strange, not sure whether the man needs this information for him to perform his job properly, or if he’s simply prying for information on the mystery that is Anne. Tony doesn’t want to offer this information freely. Partly because he wants Anne to have her privacy, and partly because he doesn’t want anyone else to know about her. She’s become too important to him now. That’s a major risk on his part if she becomes well known among other people.

“You’re hesitant to divulge,” Dr Strange says, emotionlessly. “She means something to you, even though we have already clarified that she is not family. Care to explain why?”

“Not particularly.”

“You don’t know her from Adam,” Dr Strange guesses. “But she has something on you.”

“Are you accusing her of blackmailing me?” Tony asks, outraged.

“No. But I think she has information. You’re not keeping her around for said information, but I can hazard a guess that it’s guilt or a sense of responsibility.”

Tony wants to spit something vitriolic at the man, but he’s snapped out of his anger by the look that Strange gives him when he realises that he’s right. It’s not smug. It’s not pity. It’s understanding. It’s non-judgemental.

“Doctor-patient confidentiality is something I take very seriously, Mr Stark. What you tell me is pertinent to her treatment and how I process the paperwork. I will not share what you tell me with any other member of staff, and if anything must be spoken about, it will involve as little detail as I can manage. I am here to do what I can to put her back on the road for health. She has a whole life ahead of her. Allow me to make that life a full one.”

Tony takes a deep breath and finally, he nods. Dr Strange looks relieved, which is about as emotive as he’s been so far. Tony jerks his head to his personal office, opening the door for Strange to follow him in.

“Coffee?”

Strange nods and his eyes track every movement that Tony makes. Tony tries not to let it bother him. He’s used to being watched. His entire life has been in the limelight, even when he wished it wouldn’t be (the aftermath of his parent’s death, Jarvis’s death, the day he arrived home from his hell in Afghanistan, to name a few). He has yet to find himself growing comfortable with it. Maybe he never will. Fortunately, he knows how to fool the public.

“I know I’m sexy, Doctor, but this is not the beginnings of porn. Could you tear your eyes away from me for one minute?”

Tony turns around to see his lips curling in amusement.

Huh, so he does have a sense of humour.

Tony grins at him unrepentantly and hands him a cup of coffee. Strange sips it black, which Tony appreciates. He prefers his coffee black. They watch each other for a while before Tony decides to start talking.

By the end of his explanation, Strange is thoroughly confused. He asks minimal questions, which Tony is grateful for. He does what he can to fill Strange in on everything he needs to know, and it seems to be enough.

“I need to go to my team. I assume you will be watching from the observation deck?”

Tony nods and watches as Strange gets up to leave. He then asks JARVIS to locate and request the presence of Bruce. Bruce comes in a few seconds later, looking slightly less exhausted than he did last time Tony saw him.

“I heard about your panic attack,” is the first thing he says when he comes in. He crowds into Tony’s personal space and starts doing a check-up. “Are you OK?”

Tony groans and bats his hands away.

“I’m fine, Brucey. It’s Anne we should be worried about.”

Bruce sits down on the chair opposite Tony and gives him ‘the look’. ‘The look’ suggests Bruce is not impressed with Tony, and Tony waits for him to deliver his verdict on why.

“What have we talked about, Tony? About how you shouldn’t put your health behind other peoples?”

Tony shrugs, even though the conversation has been had so many times over. He doesn’t want to hash that out again. It makes him feel uncomfortable. Bruce, in all his non-psychological glory, says Tony doesn’t know how to cope with people caring about him. Tony tells him he just doesn’t like people being nosy. To which Bruce laughs and shakes his head saying something akin to ‘One day you’ll learn that you’re worth being cared about’. And then the conversation ends. It’s a tired cliché in his life now.

“We’ll talk about this at some other point. For the time being, you should go and talk to Anne. We’ve got everything under control here. I’ll be with you on the observation deck soon.”

Tony can’t remember why he wanted to see Bruce in the first place, so he simply nods and walks away. Better to nip any heartfelt discussions in the bud. Bruce and himself are probably both emotionally wrought after the events of the past few weeks. The conversation needs to be put on standby because he doubts either of them are ready for it.

Back in Anne’s room, he finds Clint talking to Anne in graphic detail about a mission he went on when he first joined SHEILD. She is enraptured by his words, awe-stricken and smiling. Tony wishes she could be like that forever, but he knows that the life she’s had will simply never allow it. He just has to try and undo as much of the damage as possible.

Tony is content to sit and listen to Clint’s admittedly impressive storytelling skills until a doctor comes in and kicks them out. Anne is about to go into surgery and there are some preparation procedures to go through first.

“We’ll see you on the other side,” Tony says, confidently.

“If you say so,” Anne says nervously.

Tony doesn’t know how to ease her worry, so he just follows Clint out of the room and they both head to the observation deck together. Clint doesn’t stop talking the entire time that they’re waiting for it to start. Tony figures it’s an attempt to distract him. He allows himself to be distracted.


	7. Nightmares and healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maintaining the standard 'everything sucks, but lets stay positive, k?'

Hours pass. Tony watches with rapt attention as the surgery plays out. He doesn’t allow himself to get squeamish when they saw through her skull and begin to dig through her brain. He can’t deny that there’s a lot happening that he doesn’t understand, but he did research Strange after Bruce hired him. He learnt that the man’s success rate is astronomically high, and he’s the best in his field. Tony figures that Strange is the medical version of himself. Lightyears ahead of the others in his profession, and possibly quite arrogant about the fact.

All-in-all, they’re alike enough that Tony can’t say for certain whether he likes him for it or hates him for it. It’s hard to decide, so he leaves that question to be answered by time. Though, he may never find a need to interact with the man after this.

By the time the surgery is over, a staggering fifteen hours later, Tony has been joined by Steve, Bruce, Thor and Natasha. The five Avengers are napping, and while they had urged Tony to do the same, he was too wound up to even try. Anne was down there, and she looked like she was sleeping. So young, innocent and vulnerable. She won’t know the difference, but Tony feels that falling asleep would leave her alone.

When the lights in the operating theatre brighten, Tony stands up and looks down at Strange, who breaths out a sigh and looks up at Tony. He smiles. Tony feels his shoulders sag with relief, and he can’t help but smile back.

_Anne is going to be ok._

 

 

~

 

 

Tony wakes the rest of the Avengers up, and together they make their way downstairs and stand outside the room where Anne will be taken. Bruce is talking to one of the doctors, vomiting a bucket-load of med terms that Tony doesn’t even bother trying to listen to. He might be a genius, but some of what they’re saying doesn’t make any sense to him.

When Anne is finally wheeled back, they’re told that she won’t be awake for hours and that they can’t enter the room. Tony was prepared for this, Strange had warned him that they’d need to wait a while to see her after the surgery, but it still bothers him.

“She’s going to be fine, Mr Stark,” Strange promises. “She has the best doctors on hand. We’ll call when you can come down, and we’ll inform you of any changes. In the meantime, you should go to sleep.”

Tony allows himself to be guided out of the medical floor, but when he’s dragged into the lounge again, he puts up a fight.

“I want to go to the lab. I’ve wasted enough time. Pepper is going to be furious with me. I’m behind on all my-”

“Sir, if I may, you have no outstanding projects, and are perfectly free to take some time to sleep.”

Tony is suitably unimpressed with Jarvis’s intervention, but he can’t figure out what other arguments he has. Thor bodily lifts him from the elevator and sets him down on the sofa. He then throws a blanket over Tony and pulls him into his chest.

“You can sleep now, brother. The young maiden is well, but you will not be if you refuse to succumb to your body’s needs.”

Thor is making annoying sense, and so Tony allows himself to go slack. He feels thin fingers trail through his hair, and he can hear Thor’s steady heartbeat through the man's shirt. He doesn’t realise it, but soon he’s falling asleep in the arms of his teammates.

He doesn’t understand why they’re bothering to care about him so much, but he’s not able to figure it out, because a warm darkness creeps in and claims him for its own.

 

 

~

 

 

 _Tony’s dreams start_ to calm _. He’s in the tower and Jarvis is assisting him in building a tree that dispenses paper. Logically, he knows this would never work the same way he’s designing it_ to _, but it just makes so much sense, and he’s so close to finishing. It must be realistic if he’s almost finished._

_Tony is babbling with joy as the aspect of being able to plant this tree is every garden across the globe, eliminating a large percentage of reasons to cut down the rainforests._

_He’s celebrating with a cup of extra strong coffee (his alcohol is locked away for good) when Jarvis cuts out suddenly. Tony freezes. Without Jarvis, Tony notices that he can’t hear the whir of his ‘bots, either. He looks towards their charging stations and notices that they’ve been obliterated._

_Three smoking piles of scrap metal and wires, the metal that once made up his ‘bots. Tony feels sick as he runs to kneel beside them. His greatest creations. Destroyed._

_“Jarvis! What happened?” Tony asks, thickly. “What happened to my ‘bots?”_

_Jarvis doesn’t answer. Tony knows that his fate is the same as the ‘bots. But why? Who?_

_“I’ve taken away everything you love.”_

_Tony’s blood runs cold at the voice. It was devastatingly familiar. Tony was never supposed to hear that voice again. That voice was dead. He knows with certainty because he’s the one who killed it._

_“Take it in, Tony, my boy. Your happiness has been crushed. How does it feel?”_

_Tony stares at Obadiah’s face. The man is burnt and battered and bloody, but his smile is filled with warmth. It’s a juxtaposition that Tony is struggling to wrap his head around._

_“Obie… why?”_

_Obadiah walks towards Tony and cups his face. He gently strokes a thumb over his cheek and Tony feels about five-years-old. He’s struggling to resist the urge to lean into the touch, and Obie knows it._

_“You’ve been so badly behaved,” Obie says, his voice filled with disappointment. “Didn’t I bring you up better than that? I never raised you to do this.”_

_“You didn’t raise me,” Tony whispers._

_The hand moves from his cheek to his throat and tightens. Tony’s breathing halts and his eyes widen. Obie is still smiling gently, every part of him displaying love, except for the words he is speaking._

_“I raised you from the moment your parents died,” he says, sweetly. “I stood by you for everything. You owe your life to me, and how to do you repay me? By taking mine.”_

_“No,” Tony gasps._

_“So ungrateful,” Obie spits, his face morphing into a grotesque caricature of what he was but a moment ago. “But what would one expect from a child who was given everything he asked mummy and daddy for?”_

_“That’s not true,” Tony chokes out._

_“No it's not, it is?” Obie says icily. “They gave you everything but their love and time, but can you blame them? Do you truly think you deserved it?”_

_“No,” Tony whispers dejectedly._

_“That’s right, boy. You didn’t. And you don’t know. It’s easier for me to just take them away one-by-one. Starting with your creations. I’ll finish with the Avengers.”_

 

Tony’s eyes fly open and he shoots upwards, his mouth open in a silent scream. He starts to frantically search the room, looking for Obie to come back. A pair of strong arms, each one wider than himself, wrap around him and hold him still.

Tony panics.

“Get off!” he shouts, his voice gruff and laced with fear. “No, Obie, leave me alone!”

“Anthony, it is I, Thor,” A voice whispers in his ear. “There is no reason for your panic. We are all here. You are safe.”

“Jarvis?” he chokes out, praying beyond hope that his AI, arguably his best friend, didn’t befall the same fate that it did in his dream.

“I am here sir.”

Tony nods, keeping his panic stored firmly in his throat. He can’t keep breaking down every day. His team will start to suspect that there’s something wrong with him.

“Right, big day ahead, things to do, places to go-” Tony starts as he moves to dislodge himself from Thor.

Thor, however, does not seem to be on board with letting him go so freely. The distinct feeling of being trapped threatens to expose his panic to everyone. He can’t cope with this. He needs to leave _now_.

Finally, Thor seems to get the idea. Tony stumbles to his feet, and ignoring the team calling his name, he stumbles to the elevator.

“You need to stop letting me fall asleep where the team can see my post-nightmare freak-out, J. Bad AI.”

“Oh my sincerest apologies sir,” JARVIS replies, deadpanned. “Next time I’ll make sure to use my code to carry you to bed.”

Tony snorts and grins even as he slides to the floor and puts his head in his hands.

“Don’t let anyone in until I’m back up. K?”

“Yes, sir.”

 

 

~

 

 

Time passes, Tony knows not how much. His breathing slows with every word JARVIS says. Each syllable grounding him in a way that nothing else can. His body aches with the aftermath but stretches himself out and JARVIS wordlessly starts the elevator again.

When he steps out, he finds Bruce waiting for him, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. He has an eyebrow raised and his mouth is set in a thin line.

“Another one?”

“Yes, DJ Khaled. Another one.”

“You need to see a therapist, Tony,” Bruce advises.

“Therapy won’t help,” Tony argues, walking down the corridor with Bruce on his heels.

“How could you know if you refuse to try?”

“Brucey, come on. We did try, didn’t we? Did it work?”

Brush blushes and looks ashamed. Tony feels instantly guilty, knowing that he has no right to have expected Bruce to have conducted a useful therapy session. As he’s constantly reminded, Bruce isn’t that kind of doctor.

“Sorry,” Tony mumbles. “That wasn’t… I didn’t… You aren’t—”

“It’s OK, Tony. I want to help, but I can’t in that capacity.”

“I know. Look, I’ll think about it, OK? But only if you convince Anne to do the same.”

Bruce can see he’s being set up for an impossible mission, but to his credit, he doesn’t back down.

Together, they walk into Anne’s hospital room. She’s sat up, looking unfocused, and Tony knows she’s drugged up to the eyeballs.

“Mr Stark,” she slurs, smiling. “S’so good to meet you.”

Tony raises an eyebrow at her but decides it would be unfair to laugh at her in this vulnerable state. He’s feeling rather delicate himself right now. He can relate.

“Nice to meet you too, Anne,” he says, lounging in the chair next to her bed. “How’re you feeling?”

“M’fine,” she mumbles, head lolling to the side. “S’weird, right?”

Bruce, who had been looking at the machines and reading her chart, lifts his head in worried curiosity.

“What’s weird? Does something feel wrong?”

“Everything,” she whispers conspiratorially.

“Can you be more specific?” Bruce urges. “I can help.”

“No-one can help. That’s the problem.”

She sounds so broken and dejected that Tony feels a surge of protectiveness take over him. No child should feel the way Anne does. No child should feel like they have no one to turn to, no one to ask for help to alleviate the pain. She’s too young to be so jaded but has seen so much to be allowed to view the world through rose-tinted glasses. The kind that shrouds the world in innocent ignorance.

Tony knows he’s not the best person for the job, and that she deserves so much more, but he vows that he’s going to do everything in his power to make things better for her.

“S’weird that I’m here,” she says. “When I think I was ‘sposed to die in ‘Afghanistan.”

Tony knows that feeling. He often wonders whether he would have been better off dying there. He hadn’t truly believed he would make it out, despite how much hard work he and Yinsen put into trying to escape.

“But you didn’t,” Bruce reminds her calmly. “You survived it all.”

“Sometimes I wish I hadn’t.”

Bruce’s solemn expression as he looks between Tony and Anne suggests that he knows she isn’t alone in her thoughts. Tony tries not to remember the time Bruce openly admitted trying to rid the world of the dangers of the Hulk.

“But you did,” Bruce says, defiantly. “You did and now things are going to get better.”

“How do you know that?” she challenges. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because you have us now,” Tony tells her. “And we’ll do everything in our power to make it so. You have my word.”

“Oh, your word? How many words are to a stark guarantee? What’s the exchange rate to Canadian dollars? Might cash in and move there.”

Tony chuckles and puts his feet on her bed. She stares at them for a while, lost in thought. Bruce disappears, saying that he’ll return in a few hours with food and he leaves Tony and Anne alone together. After about half-an-hour, Tony can see some of the drug haze fading away, and the sharp sting of intelligence returns back to her eyes.

“My hair is going to take forever to grow back,” she laments, tentatively touching around the scarring. “Do I look gross?”

“Relative to what you looked like before?” Tony inquires, innocently. “No, I wouldn’t say so.”

“Rude,” she snickers. “At least I don’t look like I’ve been on the wrong side of one hundred for a decade.”

“Hold your tongue, heathen. I wear my age well.”

“Sure, old man. Whatever you say. Though, might I advise investing in a mirror? Reality checks are that expensive these days, are they?”

“I’ll pull the plug is there’s more lip from you, young lady.”

Anne smirks at him, but a contemplative look comes over her and she lets her smile fade. Tony watches her, trying his best not to pry, but he wants to know what came over her so quickly.

“Why am I here?” she asks, finally.

Tony stares at her, waiting for her to offer some kind of clarification, but she just looks at him with those earnest doe eyes, as if she’s expecting him to shout at her. Panic overcomes Tony.

“I don’t know what you mean, kid. Do you mean in the hospital? Did you forget? Are you having memory problems?” Tony starts to stand up, frantically wringing his hands. “Crap, I should get a nurse. They didn’t mention that this could be a side-effect, but they were digging around in your brain and—”

Anne winces.

“Jesus, Mr Stark. I just meant, like, why are you doing all this? Why are you helping me?”

Tony thinks he would rather have her suffering some malicious side-effects of her surgery than her wondering why someone would care enough to get her life-saving surgery. His heart can’t take any more damage, but somehow this kid has managed to crawl in and is now ripping its walls down.

“Because you haven’t done anything that would warrant me allowing you to die,” he says simply. “You have a life ahead of you, and you deserve to have every minute as pain-free as possible.”

Anne bites on her lip looking unsure. She looks so young when she allows that brash personality to melt from her face. She won’t allow herself to be vulnerable, but she can’t stop herself from being a child with a viciously traumatic past. That can’t be changed. But her future is still putty in their hands. They can mould it to suit their needs.

“We should work on your personal statement for your college application,” Tony says, moving the conversation onwards. “I’ve received a note from them that they’re only asking a handful of students for this. It’s for a scholarship that would not only give you a free ride through it all, but you would get personal tutelage from one of the finest robotics professors the world has to offer. I hope you don’t mind, but once you’ve handed in your application, I’m going to talk to the college about splitting the reward in two. I will pay for your tuition and board. Some kid shouldn’t risk being able to go to college because he can’t afford it.”

Anne looks stunned, and Tony doesn’t know if she’s angry or not. Has he overstepped some kind of line? Did she change her mind about wanting to go to MIT?

“That would be awesome, Mr Stark. What am I supposed to write though? I’ve not exactly had a relatable life.”

“Well, here’s where the magic of words comes in, my dearest Anne,” Tony says, pulling a tablet out and priming his fingers. “We make them relate to it.”

 

 

~

 

 

They’re at it for an hour before Bruce returns, carrying two trays of food. He places one on the wheeled table and pushes it to Anne, and then hands the other to Tony.

“Tony, do I have your word that you can not talk for a full five minutes?”

Tony blinks up at Bruce confused by the random request.

“What? Why?”

“Can you and will you? That’s what I’m asking.”

“Yeah, of course, I can.”

“Starting now, you’re not allowed to say a word. Eat.”

Tony watches Bruce warily but starts eating. He can see Anne watching them both, clearly wondering what the hell they’re doing. Bruce sighs heavily, and Anne focuses on him.

“Anne, Tony is refusing to go to therapy unless you promise to go to.”

Tony chokes on his food, and stands up, looking betrayed. Bruce gives him ‘the look’ and Tony, looking cowed, sits back down and glares at the floor.

“If you agree to go to therapy, then Tony will go as well.”

Anne can smell the trap, and Tony finds himself praying that she won’t bite the bait. She looks between Tony and Bruce, and resignation sets into her shoulders.

“Fine, but only for as long as Tony is going.”

Both Anne and Tony feel positively tricked by Bruce, who looks ecstatic that it went so well. Tony opens his mouth to start complaining, but Bruce simply taps his watch and holds up three fingers. Anne laughs, but she drops her gaze to the food when Tony turns to glare at her. Tony can see her poorly concealed smile and he is thoroughly offended. He feels like he’s been duped.

Anne falls asleep after a short while and Tony, unwilling to leave her side, opts to create on his Stark pad. He’s been falling behind on his work as of late, and he feels the itch. He _wants_ to go on a record-breaking inventing binge, build anything that comes to mind and be free with his ideas.

He’s not had the chance to do that much since Anne came into his life. He doesn’t blame her, of course. It’s no-one’s fault, and it’s his problem to deal with and his problem alone. He can stave off the desire until she’s back on her feet. Distance makes the heart grown fonder, though. It’ll be interesting to see how much further his love of inventing can go.

He doesn’t know how long he’s sat in the chair exactly, but he’s side-tracked from his blueprints by emails. He has a back-log of R&D requests, contracts to look over from Pepper and countless emails from board members, the press and interested parties asking for meetings, interviews and opinions.

A migraine is growing steadily at the back of his skull, but he’s in the zone now and if he lets himself fall out of it, he might not be able to get back in for a long time. Time and other commitments are hard to side-track. He needs to focus now. Especially while Anne is sleeping.

Tony keeps working until eventually the headache is blinding and his hisses through clenched teeth. He’s reaching a point where he may be simply physically unable to go on any longer. Why does he always let his workload grow and grow and grow until he can bear it no longer?

“You don’t. Your workload just grows at a rate you can’t follow.”

Tony would look up at Bruce’s calming voice if it didn’t mean looking where the light was the brightest, which would ensure his migraine worsening.

“We’re going to hire you some damn assistants,” Bruce says, equal parts fond and scalding.

Tony’s pain-addled brain takes a few seconds longer than normal to process what Bruce has suggested. Then he realises how beneficial that would be for Anne in particular.

“That’s a great idea!” Tony says, a little too loudly.

Between his raised voice and the roar of the lights when he lifts his head, his migraine would have knocked him on his arse if he wasn’t already sat down. Instead, he groans and puts his face in his hands. He hates that he probably looks pathetic and vulnerable, but he can’t really help it at this point. Besides, Bruce is the last person in the world who will judge him.

“What’s wrong?” Bruce asks gently. “A migraine?”

Tony nods, working hard to make sure his head isn’t jostled too much. He stays still as a statue and doesn’t move again until he hears Bruce leave the room. Feeling just a smidgen betrayed, he slowly crawls over to the cot in the corner of his room and prays that he can sleep it off.

He startles, maybe even squeaks a little, when the bed dips beside him. He knows he doesn’t need to look up when he smells Bruce’s body wash and feels a cold flannel being placed over the back of his neck. And then, Bruce’s skilled fingers begin to massage Tony’s scalp.

“You’ve been holding out of him,” Tony grumbles.

“Shh. Sleepytime now.”

Tony chuckles but allows himself to relax under Bruce’s care. It doesn’t take long for him to fall asleep.


	8. Honey Bear comes to visit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little bit dark, but whatever. What about the Avengers isn't dark?

Tony wakes the next morning to the sound of Anne chattering away happily. Tony cracks an eye open and sees Clint, Steve and Thor surrounding the bed and Natasha sitting cross-legged on the foot of her bed, like some kind of deadly cat. They all look cheerful.

“Morning, sleepy head,” Clint chimes. “Sweet dreams?”

Tony groans in response and stretches, letting his ageing bones crack. It feels good, but he kinda wants to fall back asleep. Today feels ‘off’ somehow. He’d rather avoid whatever misfortune he’ll have to suffer through.

“What does a billionaire dream about anyway?” Clint asks, absent-mindedly. “Marrying your ego? Speaking of, I notice you’ve stopped building your ego boosting med tech. What’s up with that? Got bored of the public fawning?”

Clint says it all conversationally, obviously aiming for gentle humour, but for some reason, it feels like Clint is stabbing him in the gut and twisting the knife viciously. Anne looks shocked by Clint’s brash words, and Natasha is eyeing him suspiciously. Clint, Thor and Steve all laugh, not seeming to notice what those words are doing to Tony.

Tony knows the world sees him as an egomaniac, and he understands it, to an extent. The media like to paint him as such because it gives them something to talk about. It’s an idea they use to tear away at anything and everything he does. His heroics are relabelled as acts which only serve to further his sense of self-importance. It’s insane how far they’ll go to keep this idea alive, and how nothing he does will change this. They even had the gall to suggest that his little trip into the portal, what had been intended to be his final act as Iron Man, was all for the show. That, yes, he saved Manhattan, but also, did he need to be so dramatic? Surely, the man was just looking for another excuse to have people fall at his feet? It’s hard to ignore those kinds of accusations, but he puts on a good show of not caring.

However, when those same accusations are from his friends, it hurts. He’d hoped that by now, Clint would’ve been able to see that Tony was way more than that. Or Steve. Even Thor. Only Bruce seemed to seems to recognize that Tony isn’t the man that the media loves to hate. Maybe he should just suck it up and deal with it.

 _Or maybe_ , a voice taunts in his head, _they’re right, and your ego is hiding the truth from you? Maybe you think you’re not egotistical because you’re so egotistical._

Well, there’s a thought that Tony would rather not entertain. He mentally shakes away all those pesky fears and doubts and turns his grin up by a factor of ten.

“No, Katniss. I dreaming about flying and beating your arse.”

“The latter will only ever happen in your dreams.”

Tony looks at each Avenger, giving them an analysing look.

“Ok, not that I don’t think you’re all _great_ , but what’re you doing here?”

“What, we’re not allowed to come to visit our favourite girl?” Clint asks, innocently.

“Friend Banner asked that we offer our company in your absence,” Thor explains.

“My absence?”

“He also asked that Thor and I offer our strength,” Steve says, looking a little lost. “He said we might need to uh, wrangle you into an appointment.”

“I came to watch,” Clint announces.

“I came to slap Clint should he become a nuisance,” Natasha says. “And to hang out with Anne while the boys are being stupid.”

“Appointment?” Tony doesn’t remember having an appointment set for today. “With who?”

“Bruce didn’t say, he just mentioned a promise you made to him, and that Anne has the same one in a few days’ time.”

Realisation sets in a little slowly, due to his still waking brain. When it does though, he slowly backs towards the door, noting that all the eyes in the room are on him. He feels distinctly uncomfortable, but he’s not sure exactly what to do with himself.

“I’ve just uh… got an email from Pepper,” he mutters.

“I do not see said email,” Jarvis pipes up. “Maybe you’re hallucinating.”

Tony glares at the wall, knowing Jarvis will understand that it’s meant for him. He’s about to simply walk out of the room, when Steve, looking sad and bringing out the full force of his puppy dog eyes, moves to his side.

“I’m afraid Bruce mentioned that you’d try to back out in the face of it, whatever it is, and that we need to… he said man-handle, but I’d much rather label it as encouraging.”

“I don’t need encouraging. It’s not time sensitive anyway, so I’ll just do it later –”

Tony is about to walk away when a strong hand grabs the scruff of his shirt and hauls him back. Furious, Tony swipes out, trying to hit Steve and make him let go, but Steve holds him out of reach, just high enough that his feet are only barely touching the floor.

“You look like a disgruntled kitten,” Clint says, cheerfully. “It’s honestly quite adorable.”

“Shut up, Legolas,” Tony huffs.

He crosses his arms over his chest and glowers at Steve with as much venom as he can muster. Steve, the rat, looks genuinely looks amused by it. Fond, even. Like Tony was a toddler throwing a tantrum that he is able to find endearing.

Tony is about to shout at him for being a nuisance, when suddenly he’s being hauled down the hallway, still being essentially carried by Steve. He feels distinctly like a lion cub being carried by its mother. It’s uncomfortable. Bruce is in the distance, and he isn’t even hiding how funny he finds it.

“I see you put up something of a fight?” he says. “Glad I planned ahead.”

“I’m not a _child_ Bruce, I can take myself places.”

“You wouldn’t have come, Tony. I know you better than that.”

Bruce turns to Steve and smiles.

“Thank you, Steve, I appreciate it. I can take it from here.”

Steve nods, curiosity burning in his eyes, but he allows himself to walk away without asking. Tony kind of wishes he wouldn’t leave, but also knows that he couldn’t handle the whole team knowing he was going to therapy. Bruce is the only one who would see it as being beneficial. He can’t even imagine how Clint would laugh at him for it. He figures it’s best to let it play out from here, and he allows Bruce to take him by the wrist and drag him into the office.

“It’s an hour-long session. I’ll be here the whole time,” Bruce promises, making Tony feel far better than it should have. “You should _try_ to talk, Tony, but if you can’t, you can leave.”

Knowing it’s not an invitation, Tony nods. He might as well try now that he’s here, but he has no idea what to expect, and he’s nervous. He’s not sure what the therapist is going to try and do. Will they hypnotise him? He’s still unsure how much of what he’s seen on TV is straight up fiction.

Tony takes a deep breath, and spurred by the encouraging smile that Bruce offers, he takes a step forward and knocks on the door. A voice inside, female, calls him in.

Tony steps into the room, and gulps. It’s calming, all leafy green and cream. The therapist sits on a warm brown leather chair, and opposite is a deep green egg chair. Tony waits, and she looks a little perplexed by it but waves her hand towards the chair. Tony takes a seat, leaning as far back as he can so that he can be as far away from her as possible.

“Mr Stark. My name is Charlotte.”

Tony nods his acknowledgement, and she accepts that as the most she’s going to get out of him for a while. Tony eyes her up and down apprehensively, and she lets him. She probably knows that he’s paranoid.

“How does this work?” Tony asks, finally. “Do you wave a watch in front of my face and get me to confess my traumatic past?”

The therapist smiles indulgingly, some reminiscent of Steve’s fond smile from earlier, that Tony feels himself burning red.

“No, that’s not a common tactic and doesn’t really have much merit to it. We normally skip right to the talking.”

Tony nods again.

“Would you like to talk about anything in particular?”

Tony shakes his head.

“I can assure you that everything that happens in this room, and any interactions that occur between the two of us will be confidential.”

Tony doesn’t want to be suspicious, but he can’t seem to help it. He simply is. He’s been told things like this before by women after much less than his darkest secrets. Women who sleep with him and then sell the story. He felt like he was used, and it hurt him every time. He didn’t admit it, of course. But it did. Used and abused, just like everyone in his life before them, and like everyone in his life after them will continue to do so.

“You don’t trust me,” the therapist says. “I can understand that. You’ve been betrayed many times over if the media is anything to go by.”

“It’s not,” Tony speaks up. “It’s normally speculation, and I can never tell where they get most of it.”

“Would you like to talk about that?”

Tony shakes his head.

“That’s ok. We have an entire hour. You can choose what you want to talk about. You’re under no pressure to talk about anything, but it will be in your best interest to talk about something.”

“What about this wild weather we’ve been having?”

“Wild weather?” the therapist says, calmly.

“The weather hasn’t… uh, been wild? I just figured. It normally is. Even when it’s not, people like to complain like it is anyway.”

“When was the last time you went outside, Mr Stark?”

Tony feels a stab of unexpected panic.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “But, uh, I think it was our last mission.”

“The one with the portals?”

Tony nods.

“Did that remind you of what happened when Loki attacked?”

Tony feels sick. She’s not going to drag this out of him, is she? He can’t. He doesn’t want to talk about it.

“I’ve been a bit too busy lately to go on a leisurely stroll around Central Park,” Tony says, faux exasperation. “I have a company to run, and a new minor to get medical attention for.”

“A new minor?”

Tony laughs. This should be vaguely easier to talk about than the New York disaster.

“Yeah. Her name is Anne. She had a brain tumour. She came to live with me. I got her the best doctor there is, and she’s on the mend now.”

“Do you make a habit of taking in strays, Mr Stark?”

“No, not really. Unless you count the Avengers, which maybe we should. They’re a bunch of strays if ever I saw them.”

Charlotte smiles indulgently, and Tony feels awkward. Is she trying to make him feel like a child?

“So, is this child family of some kind?”

“No, she’s just someone who came by the tower a few weeks ago.”

“And you let her move in?”

“Well, no, it’s slightly more complicated than that. She’s… I owe her my life.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened minutely, enough that Tony knows she’s trying to hide her disbelief.

“She saved your life?”

“Yeah, she… well, it’s kind of a long, strange story.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

Tony considers this. He doesn’t really want to talk about it too much, but what’s the harm in admitting his connection to Anne?

“She was kidnapped by the same people who took me. Used for her skills, and she was there at the same time I was.”

Tony doesn’t know if he wants to mention how she was the one who organised the way they would get a hold of him, because it would make her look bad. It feels like he’s _accusing_ her of something, even though he knows that it’s not her fault. It will never be her fault.

“You said she was a minor? How old was she when she was taken in by the Ten Rings?”

Tony often forgets that the details of what happened became public knowledge after the Mandarin attacks. It’s weird to hear other people talk about the Ten Rings so casually when the name turns his blood to ice and makes his ears ring with screams.

“She was nine,” he says, shakily.

“Nine?” the therapist is suitably disgusted. “That’s very young.”

“Yeah, so she was there, and I didn’t know. Then, one day, she just turns up here to _thank_ me.”

“What for?”

Tony sighs. He then jumps into a convoluted explanation to what she said, how she feels that _he_ saved _her_ from the Ten Rings when he didn’t even know that she was there. The therapist listens with a clear expression, allowing Tony to talk himself hoarse.

“… but she has no reason to thank me. I didn’t know she was there. I should have found her, and I should have looked and saved her straight away.”

“But you _didn’t_ know she was there,” Charlotte offers.

“No, but I should have guessed there would be other people. I mean, I had… I had Yinsen with me. I should have  _known_ that there would be others, too.”

“You told me she wasn’t in the cave the day you broke free.”

“No, but I’m sure that had I thought to look around the base, I would have found evidence of their being another prisoner.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I just know.”

“I think you’re trying to force blame onto yourself. You’ve taken on responsibility for yourself, which doesn’t belong to you, but you take it all anyway. You must feel quite weighed down with the fate of the world on your shoulders.”

Tony shrugs. He knows what he’s responsible for. She might not agree with him, but he knows he should have searched. He should have found Anne. Should have brought her home with him. Should have done something.

“In the next week, between our two sessions, I would like you to write a list of all the things you feel guilty for. It will help us to pull apart what makes you feel responsible for events out of your control. Do you think you can do that?”

“I’m fairly certain I’m capable of writing a list.”

“Good. In that case, our hour is up. I’ll see you next week?”

Tony is shocked that the hour is up already. It doesn’t feel like he’s been there for more than ten minutes. He doesn’t let it interfere with his want to be out of there as soon as possible though.

Bruce is waiting for him on the other side of the door, and he is given a proud smile that makes Tony feel warmer on the inside than he should. Together, without exchanging any words, they return to Anne’s room. She’s playing poker with Clint and Natasha, while Thor watches on confused and Steve looks disapproving.

“Mr Stark! Do you want to play Texas Holdem? Steve thinks I shouldn’t, Thor has no idea what’s going on, and Natasha and Clint are far too good at this game, but I reckon I have a shot at beating you.”

Tony laughs, and joins them, ignoring Steve’s gaze burning the back of his neck. Clint laughs brutally when Tony loses his first hand, and Tony vows to get his own back later on. In the meantime, he’s going to allow himself to enjoy this. A moment of calmness in the storm that is his life.

 

 

~

 

 

Tony alternates his time between keeping an eye on Anne as she recovers, filling requests in for Pepper (his guilt for them not spending as much time together as he’d like to fuel him) and keeping Bruce happy by eating and sleeping.

The day that Anne leaves the hospital bed, Tony retreats into his labs. His poor, poor mechanical children have only had JARVIS to entertain them, and he’s such a spoilsport sometimes.

“I know Dummy, I know. Is your big brother being mean? He wouldn’t let you set fire to things, so you could put them out again?” Tony shakes his head dramatically. “I don’t know where he got that boring side of him from, but it wasn’t me.”

“You seem to have mistaken ‘boring’ with ‘safe’ again, sir,” JARVIS says.

Dummy makes a pathetic whining voice, and Tony pats his metal claw lovingly. Dummy is appeased by this, and the other bots clamber to get some of his attention for themselves. Tony laughs and plays ball with them for a while, before finally turning to his work bench.

“Ok, J. Bring up the schematics for something. _Anything._ I need to delve into something for a while.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And code black-out. I don’t want any distractions for the next twenty-four hours.”

 

 

~

 

 

Anne is sat in the lounge with Clint, playing Minecraft. Anne keeps getting distracted by her own thoughts, and every now and then she’s dragged back into the present when she gets attacked by a creeper, or when JARVIS reminds her to take her pain medication.

Her head hurts something wicked, but she supposes that it’s common for pain after having invasive brain surgery, so she won’t complain. She’d rather sit here and contemplate what she’s learnt about Tony since moving into the tower, even if it kind of happened by accident.

She knows that he has given everything to the Avengers. She knows that he works himself to the bone to provide for them, to better the world and to make sure no-one goes without. She knows that he is a lot less his media personality that she had assumed. He’s soft and gentle, and nice. Nothing like the egotistical maniac that she saw in the papers.

She’s been here just over a month and a half and she recognised it all, but she’s not sure the other Avengers have. Clint definitely hasn’t. And she doesn’t understand why. Or how that’s possible. Isn’t he supposed to be a super spy?

She also noticed that when he made those rakish off-hand comments about Tony’s ‘giant ego’, none of the other Avengers stuck up on Tony’s behalf. Only Natasha failed to see the humour in it, and she’d fixed him with a contemplative look, but she didn’t say anything.

Anne supposes that maybe she should have, but she’s not sure how well that would have been received. Most people don’t appreciate being defended, but she could have turned it into a joke. Made it less about defending, and more about not bullying Tony by implying that he’s some kind of egotistical jerk.

For heaven’s sake, the man took her in, gave her bed and board, is helping her apply to college, got her to best health-care to deal with what would have been a life-ending ailment, and he’s asked for nothing in return. It’s the opposite of what she considers to be a man with an ego that exceeds his worth.

“You OK, Anne? Your character has died, and you didn’t even flinch.”

Anne startles out of her thoughts and turns to Clint. He looks worried about her. Why is everyone always worried about her?

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she says. “I was just thinking.”

“Well, don’t think too hard,” he says jokingly. “I can smell the burning from here.”

Anne doesn’t humour him with a reply and simply turns back to the TV. She spawns again and starts searching for her lost items. She has no idea where she is in the game, and without her map, she’s essentially starting from the bottom again.

She starts punching the trees mindlessly, knowing that if she doesn’t build a temporary shelter soon, she’ll be murdered by the damn creepers before she has time to even curse about it.

She’s not sure why she’s even still playing. She got bored over an hour ago.  What she really wants to do is go back to her room and pick up her robot project with Mr Jarvis to guide her. It’ll look really good on her MIT application if she does, and it means she’ll get some time to herself.

Since leaving the hospital, everyone has been crowding her, making sure she was ok, checking that she isn’t in pain, offering her food. She appreciates it, but there’s only so much mother-henning that she can take. She needs to be free for at least a small portion of the day. Is that so much to ask?

“Anne, seriously, all that thinking you’re doing is distracting. Can you quit it?”

“We fear that which we do not understand,” a man says, as he walks to stand in front of the TV. “I see Tony has you babysitting for him.”

Anne would cry out in indignation if she wasn’t frozen stiff with apprehension. She doesn’t know this man, but he’s obviously friendly enough with Mr Jarvis and Clint that he’s not a threat to the tower. That and his military uniform tells Anne that it’s Rhodey, Tony’s best friend. And aside from Tony, this man has the most reason to hate Anne for her involvement in Tony’s kidnapping.

Will he try to murder her? Will he just punch her? He might just shout, but it’s hard to know what to expect when everyone in this tower has surpassed the usual parameters for men she knows. Not a single one of them have hurt her.

Maybe she’s becoming too comfortable. She should have known that her daydream would come tumbling down eventually. What was it her first foster parents had told her?

_“You’re not worth the money we’re paid to keep you.”_

She’s no more worth the effort that Mr Stark has put into keeping her alive. She should have known. She should never have gotten comfortable. Never should have let herself expect less than the norm. And oh, god. This dude has arms thicker than her waist. He could kill her with one hit. Maybe if she closes her eyes?

“My god, she _is_ like Tony,” the man mutters, eyes wide in alarm. “Jesus, kid, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Anne doesn’t relax, but she does turn beet-red with embarrassment. She can’t believe she just rambled all of that out loud.

“Tony told me about you,” Rhodey says, with faux casualness. “I wanted to meet you.”

“Oh,” is all Anne is able to say out loud.

Rhodey walks towards an armchair carefully, gaze not drifting from Anne. She feels like a frightened kitten that he’s trying not to startle.

“Gosh, you’ve not had a great time of it, huh?” he says, sympathetically. “I see why Tony likes you.”

“What do you mean?” Anne asks finally, finding her voice again.

“Tony is also a man who didn’t have a great time of it. I met him when he was close to your age. Fourteen, moved to MIT, lost, alone. Expected every man he came across to slap him. Jittery little kid.”

Anne’s body uncoils as he speaks. He has a very calming energy about it.

“Things did get better for him, though. Not perfect, but better.”

Anne can see that he’s trying to assure her that things won’t always be as bad as they are and that’s… nice. Filled with baseless assumptions, but still nice. Anne smiles at him. Rhodey smiles warmly back.

“She’s acting a like a dumb-ass right now, but kids sharp as a whip normally,” Clint says. “And some kind of tech whizz, too.”

“Wit and intelligence in one small, hairless package,” Rhodey says with a snort. “Tony through and through.”

“Tony was bald?”

“No, I just didn’t want you to feel bad about looking like Professor X.”

Anne doesn’t know who that is, but she smiles anyway. Rhodey looks victorious and relieved. He leans back in his chair and nods towards the TV.

“Wanna watch a movie? I bet there’s a bunch that you missed while you were… away.”

Clint laughs and tells Rhodey about their Harry Potter marathon. Rhodey looks disappointed that he missed out, but he suggests they start Lord Of The Rings. Mr Jarvis informs the rest of the house.

“Mr Stark wishes to inform his ‘honey bear’ that he’ll be up in a few, and could he please give him some forewarning before he comes over next time because he wishes to prepare for the havoc that Rhodey brings with him,” Mr Jarvis says in a monotone. “Granted, he muttered most of that.”

Rhodey laughs heartily, and Clint rolls his eyes. Mr Jarvis starts the movie straight away, and the lights dim. Clint rushes to gather snacks, and Rhodey brings Anne a blanket and her bottle of pain pills. Mr Jarvis must have told him about them. Anne is comfortable, and almost completely pain-free by the time Tony joins them.

Before the movie is even finished, she’s fast asleep, dreaming about Clint running alongside the elves, shooting people and arguing with Gimli.

 

 

~

 

 

When Anne wakes up, she finds that Mr Stark and Rhodey have both left, but Clint is sprawled out on the other end of the sofa, snoring loudly. Natasha is there too, but she’s awake, watching Anne form the armchair. The sun is still in the sky, casting a glow through the light tint of the windows.

“How’re you feeling?” Natasha asks, her voice low.

“Fine,” Anne replies in kind. “I met Rhodey.”

“Yes. He told me.”

“Did he –”

“Yes, he also told me about your accidental external rambling.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh.”

Natasha looks sad, and she sighs heavily. Anne feels distinctly uncomfortable at what is coming. Some kind of heart-to-heart about Anne’s screwed up expectations and sense of safety. She doesn’t like talking about these things, and really, everyone should give her a break. She was literally brought up in a cave.

“You will never be hurt by anyone in this tower,” she says, slowly. “And if anyone ever tries, they’ll be hurt worse than you can imagine.”

“Uh,” Anne goes runs her hand through her hair before remembering and letting it drop. “Thanks?”

“I know you haven’t been here long, and you spent more time in a cave than you’ve ever spent anywhere else, but you can let yourself feel comfortable here. You can start thinking of this as your home, now. And, once the paperwork goes through, you can call Tony family. And by extension, us. We’d be the wildest bunch of Aunts and Uncles you’ve ever heard of, but we’ll be here for you.”

Anne doesn’t know what to say to that. She knew Mr Stark was trying to get custody so that he could make decisions about her medical procedures, but to be given a family? That’s… unexpected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks for the comments and Kudos!


	9. Tony, admit you're a toddler!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A splash of team dynamic, a hint of bromance and a reference no one will get cause the book isn't out yet.

_Family._

It’s such an alien concept to Anne now, that she truly can’t get her head around it. It’s almost as foreign as being allowed to believe that she’s safe. She hopes this isn’t just some elaborate dream playing on her deepest desires, because that would _suck_.

“Tony, it appears, made a deal to seek therapy under the promise that you’d do the same,” Natasha says, after some time.

She looks amused by the concept, and Anne wonders if she thinks it’s a good thing or a bad thing. She supposes that Mr Stark does need to get therapy, because he’s dealt with a lot of crap in his life, too. She just never thought he’d agree to it. His public persona shows him to be a man who can handle even the biggest problems in his life, but reality wars with that idea.

“Bruce told me he would, so I figured it was best to play along.”

“But you _will_ go?”

Anne feels less like Natasha is asking, and more like she’s being told.

“Of course,” Anne says with a sweet smile.

Natasha snorts, an indelicate sound that is a juxtaposition against her hardened exterior. She then spends a minute analysing Anne’s face. Anne doesn’t know why, and it makes her itch with confusion, but she doesn’t bother asking. Natasha is a scary woman who does scary things, and Anne doesn’t really want to know the details of why.

Without saying anything further, Natasha stands up and leaves in that purposeful way that she does so well. It leaves Anne alone but for the soundly snoring Clint. The noise starts to grate on Anne’s nerves after a few minutes, and she considers waking him up, but then she is hit with a better idea.

She slowly climbs from the sofa, careful not to wake him, and goes into the bathroom. She searches through the cupboards until-

“Bingo,” Anne whispers with a triumphant smile, as she grabs the shaving cream.

 

~

 

Anne freezes as she’s squirting the cream into Clint’s hands. She stares at Miss Romanoff, and Miss Romanoff stares back, her face unreadable. Anne starts to think he might be in for it when Miss Romanoff smiles, a small twitch of her lips, and nods.

Anne waits, not sure exactly what’s happening, but then Clint groans in his sleep, and Anne doesn’t want to miss this prime opportunity. With one final look to make sure she’s not going to be shouted at, Anne puts more cream in his hands and then gently strokes a finger over Clint’s cheek.

It has the desired effect, and in his sleep, Clint slaps his hand on his cheek to rid himself of the itch. Anne cheers and Natasha smirks as Clint sits up in shock.

“Wha… what happened? Where… who… Anne?”

Anne is stepping back from Clint while she’s doubled over laughing. He looks bewildered as consciousness slowly comes to him. He looks at Natasha, Anne and then his own hand, which is still covered in a thick layer of shaving cream.

“Kid,” he says, shaking his head. “You’ve just opened a whole can of pranks that you’re not prepared for. It’s on.”

Anne is still cackling when a headache comes on. For a minute, she panics, thinking maybe the tumour was back before she realises that it feels different from the others. It’s obviously just the after effect, but that doesn’t stop her from clutching at her head and squeezing her eyes shut against the pain.

She startles when a pair of hands grab her shoulder, but she realises it’s Clint and he slowly guides her back to the sofa. He shakes out too pain pills and hands her a glass of water. She hastily downs the pills and waits for them to take effect.

“You OK?” Clint asks, handing her a blanket.

Anne nods then regrets it when it makes it worse. She groans and leans back into the cushions.

“Why can’t I just be _better_ ,” she laments, rubbing her temples.

“Here,” Clint offers. “I’ll do that.”

Anne doesn’t know what he means until she feels his cold, wet hands nudging hers out of the way and begin to massage her temples.  He’s getting shaving cream all over the sides of her face, but it’s helping to relieve the pain, so she’ll wait before she starts complaining.

“Anne,” Natasha calls.

Anne cracks her eye open and finds Natasha in front of her holding out something that could be a dead animal, though she hopes not. She looks up at Natasha questioningly.

“It’s a wig, Anne.”

“Oh. Cool.”

Anne doesn’t know how much further to take that. She’s not one to assume it’s for her, but she finds herself hoping, and doesn’t that make her some kind of spoiled? She’s never been like that before, and she certainly doesn’t want to be.

“It’s for you, until your get your hair back.”

“Really? I’ve never thought about going blonde.”

“It’ll probably suit you,” Clint assures, his temple massage not even faltering.

“I think you’ll need to wait until the scar is a little more healed to avoid any further discomfort or aggravation. I think it’ll only take a few days.”

Anne is overcome with gratitude and excitement. While being bald is hardly the worst thing that’s happened to her, it’s quickly becoming the most irritable. Not even because she thinks she looks ridiculous. She appreciates that she could probably pull it off. No, it’s because she’s so used to fidgeting with it, and she keeps going to twist it in her fingers and then remembering.

“Thank you, Miss Romanoff. That’s super cool of you,” Anne says. “Oh wow. Those pills kicked in hard.”

Clint snorts and gently pats her on her shoulder before going into the kitchen and washing his hands. He then vaults back over the sofa and lands next to Anne with a smug grin.

“So, we have more exciting entertainment to catch up on, Anne. How about…”

He’s cut off by a loud alarm going off. Anne flinches at the noise, but Natasha and Clint jump into action almost immediately.

“Duty calls, Anne,” Clint shouts as the races to the elevator. “See you soon!”

The alarm fades out and Anne stares at the closed elevator doors. She then looks around the room, noting sadly how alone the room feels. The room feels darker, despite the sun and the now untainted windows. It feels too quiet and still, and it’s almost suffocating. But she’s not alone. Here, in the tower, Anne is never alone. It’s not like it was before. Maybe it never will be.

“Mr Jarvis?”

“Yeah, young miss?”

Anne scowls at the nickname, knowing he’s only doing it to piss her off. She’s sure Mr Jarvis would be smirking if he had a corporal body. He’d probably be old, too. That’s how Anne imagines him. Tall, thin, with smile lines around his eyes and a gentle demeanour.

“Where are they going?”

“The Avengers are currently attending to an incident in Central Park.”

“That’s, like, the fiftieth time someone has chosen there as their stage for criminal activity. Surely there’s more to New York than that? More places that would be equally as grand?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Mr Jarvis replies. “I’m British.”

“Yeah, me either. Haven’t really been out much, since coming home.”

“Indeed.”

Anne fidgets with the wig on her lap and considers asking Mr Jarvis about how long he thinks it will take when the elevator doors open and Mr Stark steps out.

“Um, shouldn’t you be somewhere? Like, I don’t know, avenging?”

“I didn’t call a babysitter in time, and Rhodey beat me at rock paper scissors, so no. I have no-where to be,” Mr Stark says, flopping down onto the sofa.

“I do _not_ need a babysitter!” Anne cries out. “I’m old enough to look after myself!”

“Wrong. You’re underage, recovering from a surgery and… well, those are the only reason I need, really.”

“Mr Stark, you need to go and help,” Anne persists. “I will _not_ be the reason you’re not there to catch someone when they fall.”

“If someone gets hurt, it won’t be your fault, Anne,” Mr Stark says, weightily.

“Will you feel the same way?”

“You’re asking if I’ll blame you?”

Anne raises her eyebrows at him because she knows that he knows what she’s asking. After a few minutes of stubbornly refusing to answer, Tony sighs heavily.

“Thought so,” Anne says. “Go, Mr Stark. Mr Jarvis can babysit me. You don’t need to.”

“I will look after her to the best of my ability, sir.”

Mr Stark seems conflicted, but he obviously finds logic in going, because he quickly stands up and leaves.

“Mr Jarvis,” Anne says, a minutes after Tony has left. “Can you show my any media covering the events?”

Jarvis silently does as she’s asked, and Anne feels distinctly like she’s being judged for it. It’s clear that Jarvis is worried about what she might end up seeing.

“…man has just been sighted flying away from the tower, but whether his arrival will change anything is yet to be seen. The portals opened up less than ten minutes ago and seem to be exactly the same as last time, but we have reason to believe that the suspect is different. Last time we were dealing with a pre-pubescent boy, but this time around there seems to be no discernible culprit.”

The reporter, an ageing man in a grey suit and equally as grey hair, stands in front of the scene.

“Iron Man has arrived, but the stand-off continues.”

Behind the reporter the Avengers stand together, staring at a portal. It’s about the size of a beach ball, and no thicker than a piece of paper. It’s dark purple with swirling lines of green and blue pulsating through it. Anne can’t help but think that it looks like something from Scooby-doo.

Iron man flips up his face-plate and his mouth start to move as she talks to Steve. The good captain looks shocked at whatever he’s saying, and despite the lack of audio, it’s obvious that he’s just shouted ‘no’.

It’s also obvious when the two start to shout at each other, while the rest roll their eyes. Clearly, their arguments on the field are common place. Clint snickers at something, and Tony smirks. Steve runs a hand down his face.

“They appear to be having an intense discussion on how to handle the situation,” the reporter says, needlessly.

Anne watches with interest as Mr Stark nears the portal, and Mr Rogers follows, anxiously. Anne has no doubt that if Tony were to be sucked in, Steve would follow after him. He’s weird like that.

Tony turns to talk to Steve about something, and Anne, try as she might, can’t quite lip read what they’re saying. It looks heated though, and if she has to hazard a guess, she’d say that Mr Stark wants to go in, and Steve is begging him not to.

“Mr Jarvis, Mr Stark isn’t planning on going in, is he?”

“Mr Stark is known for making questionable decisions in troubling circumstances and disregarding his wellbeing in a startling show of lack of self-preservation.”

Anne frowns at his complete lack of solid answer but decides against pushing it. She can make her own assumptions from there. She refocuses on the TV as Mr Stark throws a rock into the portal and then closes his face-plate. Rhodey has his hands on his hips as he watches.

Anne realises that Tony is talking to Mr Jarvis in there, and while she desperately wants to know what’s going on, she refrains from asking. After a few seconds, Mr Stark takes something from the suit and throws that in, too. After a minute, Tony flips the plate back up and begins relaying information to the team.

“Mr Stark is clearly conducting experiments on the portals, which will hopefully—oh.”

Without any pre-warning, the TV turns to static, and when the picture returns, there’s nothing left where the portals once were. The Avengers stand around on an empty plain of grass, looking stunned.

“All the portals have gone,” the reporter says.

“No duh,” Anne grumbles.

Clint and Natasha have a quick conversation with the rest of the team, and then they break away from the group. Tony, Rhodey, Steve and Bruce walk in the other direction, the excitement over for now.

“That wasn’t very enlightening, was it?” Anne says, disappointed. “What did Mr Stark throw in?”

“After the rock, Sir sent in a device designed to collect data about the portals. Unfortunately, it did not return, and whatever it recorded cannot be attained until it is back.”

“Bummer,” Anne says.

“Indeed. Sir, Dr Banner, Captain Rogers and Colonel Rhodes will arrive in five minutes,” Mr Jarvis informs.

“Cool. I’ll just hang around until they come back.”

“Would you like anything to entertain you in the meantime?”

“Nah, I’m good. I might just nap here all day. Wait until Clint is back before we can watch that movie he was talking about.”

“Napping all day isn’t an option, I’m afraid.”

“What? Why? I’m _sick_ Mr Jarvis,” Anne cries out dramatically, falling against the sofa cushions.

“You have an appointment with the therapist at four in the afternoon.”

“Lame.”

“Need I remind you that you made an agreement, young miss? I do believe you promised Sir and Dr Banner.”

“Uh, still lame though.”

“Quite.”

Anne bites her lip.

“Mr Jarvis, can I ask a question about an observation I’ve made?”

“Of course.”

“Does Mr Stark… I mean, are the Avengers all…” Anne bites her lip again, unsure how to phrase it. “Are they friends?”

“Why do you ask?”

Anne instantly notes that he has, again, not given a clear answer either way, which bolsters her suspicions. Anne decides it’s enough of an answer but still hesitates before explaining her reasoning. She doesn’t know if Mr Stark has noticed, or if he will eventually. Or even if she’s completely misreading the situation.

“Sometimes, I dunno, they’re not very nice, or they undermine him, or they’re just… Jesus, Mr Jarvis. They don’t seem to respect him at all!”

Anne feels herself growing unsettled, because the more she thinks about it, the worse it is.

“Doesn’t he let them live here, rent free? He builds them stuff too, right? Probably does all the same stuff he does for me, right? More, if I’m guessing right.”

Mr Jarvis doesn’t reply, but Anne knows she’s not the first one to notice this. And the longer she talks, the more she knows she’s right.

“That’s crazy not fair,” Anne whispers.

“Indeed. The team, minus mister Barton and missus Romanoff are in the elevator.”

Which is code for ‘stop talking now’, so shuts Anne up quickly. The doors slide open, and they all step out together, Steve and Tony bickering while Bruce and Rhodey look exasperated. They sit on the sofa, and Anne listens into the conversation, even though she knows she shouldn’t.

“…never listen to me or take my orders seriously!” Steve complains.

“I would, but you seem to have a knack for giving stupid orders,” Tony rebuttals, frowning.

“Why can’t you just _listen_?”

“Cap, you’re a fountain of hypocrisy today. Is there an off button? Cause I’d rather not waste precious reserves.”

“Dammit, Tony. I just want to protect the team. Why are you so intent on putting everyone in danger, just to show off?”

Anne coils, ready to shout at Captain Rogers for his blatant rudeness, but Tony just smirks and walks away, into the elevator. The doors closing and taking him away. Anne waits for Steve to fall apart with guilt, but he doesn’t. He just looks exhausted.

“Captain, I have a lot of respect for you,” Rhodey begins, “but that was out of line and you know it.”

Rhodey looks fierce, and Anne feels a swelling in her heart at the sheer _love_ that she feels for this man that only yesterday she was terrified of. He pulls no punches when it comes to his best friend, and that makes him the third most trustworthy person in this building, next to Tony and Mr Jarvis, of course.

“Rhodes,” Steve says, exasperated. “Come on. He’s constantly ignoring orders and –”

“I’m going to stop you right there, Rogers. Tony does everything he can for you all, and to keep you all safe. He doesn’t disregard your orders, only his own safety for the sake of yours. Don’t forget that Tony has given everything for this team. If I find you talking to him like that again, _we’ll_ be having words.”

Steve gulps, clearly coming to terms with the fact that maybe he was in the wrong this time around. Rhodey nods, accepting his non-answer. Anne watches Rhodey as he squares his shoulders and walks towards the elevator.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some damage control to do, and a genius to slap upside the head for offering to jump into a _damn portal_.”

Anne smiles at that and then turns to glare at Steve who is far too distracted to notice. Bruce, however, does see, and he sits beside her on the couch.

“Don’t hold it against him,” he whispers. “Steve is a special breed of human. He’s a man out of time and Tony is ‘the futurist’. They’ll never quite see eye-to-eye, and Steve will never understand how Tony works. Neither of them are bad people, they just… don’t fit.”

Anne nods her understanding, but still feels a bitter resentment toward Steve. After the conversation she had had with Mr Jarvis just moments ago, she can’t let go of her anger against the team for the way they treat their team mate and beneficiary. It’s unfair.

She keeps her opinions to herself though and settles down to watch a documentary about bees with Bruce, while Steve sits at the kitchen island, staring at a full glass of water intently. His thoughts are so loud that it gives Anne a headache that has nothing to do with her surgery.

~

“Young Miss, your therapist appointment is in ten minutes.”

Anne groans and turns baleful eyes to Bruce, begging to be let out of it. Bruce laughs and pats her shoulder as he stands up.

“I’ll walk you there if you’d like?”

“Sure,” Anne says, making sure she doesn’t sound excited about going.

Maybe he’ll let her out of it.

“You and Tony both have the exact same expression when it comes to doing something you don’t want to do. I promise it’s not as bad as you’re letting yourself think it is.”

“How do you know? Maybe the therapist is actually a snake, and they’re going to eat me. Or maybe they’re some kind of soul-sucking vampire, and everything I tell them will result in my life force being sapped? Or maybe –”

“I think you’re letting your imagination run a little wild there, kiddo,” Bruce says, cutting her off. “I highly doubt she’s any of those things.”

“You _doubt_. Which means there’s a possibility?”

Bruce laughs as they stop in front of a thick wooden door a few floors below the suites. She takes a deep breath and knocks.

“Come in,” replies a sweet feminine voice.

Anne looks at Bruce one more time, searching for permission to abort the mission, but he just shakes his head and she sighs, entering the room.

Anne had a particular set of expectations for what she would find in the room. In a fit of foolishness, she was expecting it to look like something out of a movie, with a dark desk, low lighting and a leather lounger. This room has none of that. For a start, the room is incredibly light.

The walls are all white, as are the floor to ceiling bookshelves. Two chairs sit opposite each other, a light green, and a small glass end-table stands between them, holding a small bouquet of daisies.

All-in-all, it’s completely _not_ what Anne has assumed, and she’s potentially unreasonably disconcerted by this. Caught off-guard, she just stands in the room, back to the closed door, staring at the therapist.

She has long brown hair, waist length, and wears a black and pink pinafore dress with pink converse. Her make-up is light, and she’s twirling a pen between her fingers.

If the room was a shock, the woman is completely alien. Anne had expected the therapist to be some old, greying woman with a droll pant suit and a stiff back. This woman isn’t even close to that. She’s young, _very young_ , bright and wears a humoured smile.

“Are you qualified?” Anne asks before her brain is able to catch up.

“Tony wouldn’t have hired me if I wasn’t,” she says, in a British accent and not in the slightest angry at how rude Anne was. “I don’t think there are many people in the world more qualified to help you.”

“I imagine not in your age group.”

The woman smirks.

“My age has rarely had a negative impact on me, not when it affects what I want to do, or my work.”

“And by ‘work’ you mean being a therapist, right?”

The woman sighs heavily and points towards the chair opposite. Anne is tempted to completely ignore it, but when the woman hitches an eyebrow, Anne figures ‘what the hell’. She’s slow about it though. When she finally sits down, she crosses her arms over her chest and waits for the woman to say something.

“I’m disappointed, but not even mildly surprised that Tony failed to tell you who I am,” the woman says. “I’m _not_ a therapist at all.”

“What?” Anne pushes herself further into the chair as she warily watches the woman. “Then what are you?”

“A dancer.”

“A dancer,” Anne repeats, dubiously.

“Yes. And a principal dancer, at that. Tony had to pull some serious strings to get me to leave in order to do this, but I guess it’s for a good cause, eh?”

“A dancer,” Anne says again, as though it’ll suddenly sink in.

“With a past,” she replies. “I’m here for a form of therapy, but I’m not qualified for much more than dancing and offering advice from experience.”

“I’m sorry, but how is that supposed to help?”

“Magically, in my opinion. I have as much faith in this as you clearly do, but I’m not about to let that interfere with Tony’s wishes. Man trusts me, and I owe him.”

“Why?”

“He helped me break free from Hydra when I was a kid.”

“Hydra?”

“You know? A crazed relic from the forties? Had that lame mantra about cutting off heads? The one that our Lord and saviour Captain America took apart before he took a cat-nap with the fishes?”

Anne smiles at that but then shrugs.

“Never heard of them.”

“Nah, I’m not surprised. You’ve missed a large chunk of history lessons.”

Anne blinks confusedly. Does this woman already know about the ten rings? How much did Tony wilfully offer a stranger? She doesn’t know if she’s angry or betrayed by this complete breach of her trust.

“Tony told me that you’d been kidnapped at a young age and haven’t really re-integrated back into society yet,” she says. “Which is why I’m here. We’re alike in all the worst possible ways, you and I. It sucks, but I guess Tony figured you’d do well to see someone who has experienced similar things and still managed to move on from it.”

“I don’t appreciate that he told you things about my life without my permission,” Anne says, honestly. “I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with people knowing before I choose to tell them.”

The woman grimaces in sympathy and then shrugs. _Definitely_ not a therapist, Anne thinks.

“Kicker is, when it comes to Tony, ‘Genius’ doesn’t always apply.”

Anne’s eyes narrow. She almost thought she could like her, but she’s obviously fallen into the ‘has less respect for Mr Stark than she should’ category.

“For all his IQ, he is blind when trying to do the right thing for people he cares about. I wouldn’t worry. I cut him off before he said anything too revealing, and then gave him a stern talking to about his inability to know when too much has been achieved. It’s OK, though. What he lacks in complete social ineptitude, he more than makes up for in being one of the most generous people I know.”

Ok, maybe Anne was a little too quick to judge after the woman’s initial comment. She talks too reverently about Tony that it’s obvious she cares about him a lot.

“I’m sure I can find it in my heart to forgive him,” Anne says, glibly.

“How sweet of you,” the woman deadpans. “Anyway, I’m not free all day, so we should dive right into it.”

“OK,” Anne says, fingers twitching nervously. “Any idea where we should start?”

“I guess I should introduce myself first?” the woman suggests, holding her hand out. “My name is Angel Tyler.”

Anne snorts without meaning to, and Angel rolls her eyes.

“Go on, laugh it up.”

“Why did your parents name you _that_?” Anne asks, giggling.

“They didn’t. it’s just the only name I’ve got a living memory of.”

Anne pauses. There’s a story there, Anne can see it in her eyes, but she doesn’t ask. It’s obviously a rather rough topic and it wouldn’t be fair. However, it does bring up some interesting questions that make Anne think that maybe Angel wasn’t being entirely honest earlier.

“It wasn’t hydra, was it?”

Angel’s mouth twists uncomfortable, and she suddenly looks very young. Come to think of it, Anne can’t believe that she’s over twenty. She’s still a child herself, and she’s achieved a lot. Even better, she’s willing to come and help Anne out with her problems, despite how much of a shit Anne is being.

“No,” Angel says. “It wasn’t. It’s uh, it’s complicated. Like, a _really long_ story. It would probably take a trilogy to write it all down, let alone everyone else. But, I was… I’m not… ugh. I _was_ kidnapped, and I was made to do some things that I didn’t want to do. Tony pulled me out and put me and everyone back on track.”

Anne knows there’s far more to the story than Angel is sharing, but she can see that it’s difficult for her to discuss. It’s maybe a little hypocritical for her to expect Anne to share that information while refusing to do the same, but she decides against calling her out on it.

“So, I don’t know how this is supposed to go down,” Angel admits. “I suppose you can just talk about whatever you want to?”

“And if I don’t want to talk about anything at all?”

“Then the next hour is going to be pretty boring,” Angel says without judgement. “And I don’t have enough spare time to watch TV, so we can’t talk about that, either.”

“I’ve not either,” Anne says. “Though everyone in the tower seems pretty dedicated to introducing me to movies.”

“What do they have you watching?”

“Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, stuff like that. Steve hasn’t seen much of them either, so it doesn’t feel as weird.”

“Why would it feel weird?”

“Cause I’ve missed out on all of this basic pop-culture stuff, and it’s kinda nice that he has too.”

“I can understand that,” Angel says. “I’ve not seen either of those movies, though. Are they any good? Might add them to the list of things I do when my career is over.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty good.”

Angel nods and makes a note on her phone.

“So, when you’re not working, what’re you doing?”

“I’m trying to, uh, build a robot.”

Angel stares, caught entirely off guard, and then she laughs.

“So, you’re a mechanic too?”

“Not exactly,” Anne says, smiling. “I’m more of a computer nerd than anything. But Mr Stark says he’ll help me get into MIT so I decided to branch out.”

“And also, robots are mad-cool,” Angel adds.

“So freaking cool,” Anne agrees.

They share a few moments of friendly smiling before Angel picks the conversation back up again.

“So, MIT is quite the tall order, huh?”

“Yeah, but I’m ready for it,” Anne says, determinedly. “Plus, Mr Jarvis is helping me with it all.”

“Mr Jarvis?”

“At your service, Miss Tyler.”

Angel stares at the ceiling, but she doesn’t seem startled.

“Are you watching us?” she asks, hesitantly.

“I am always watching, you miss.”

“That’s creepy, you know that, right?”

“It’s not intended to be so. I am here to ensure the safety of Sir and the occupants of the tower.”

Anne watches with amusement as Angel talks to Jarvis. She doesn’t seem to realize that he’s not a human, which Anne decides is doubly a credit to Mr Starks genius.

“Are you… are there camera’s in here?”

“No. This room only has speakers.”

“Are you… this is gonna sound stupid as hell if I’m wrong, but are you a human or a computer?”

“I like to think of myself as a mixture.”

Angel stares for a second before smiling.

“You’re an artificial intelligence?”

“That’s exactly it, young miss.”

Angel scrunches up her face at the terminology but then shakes it off.

“We’re both British? How patriotic are you?”

“Long live the queen.”

“That’ll do,” Angel says laughing.

Her eyes are bright with wonder and excitement. She looks like she’s barely eighteen. Anne realises she hasn’t even bothered to ask.

“How old are you?”

Angel freezes and then bites her lip. Anne watches, confused. Doesn’t she know? She’s definitely not old enough for it to be a touchy subject.

“That’s more complicated than my name,” she offers finally. “Do you want my biological age or my legal one?”

Now Anne is seriously confused. What the hell does _that_ mean?

“Uh, both?”

“Legally, I’m considered sixteen. Long story there, too. Biologically, I’m fourteen.”

“And you’re a principal dancer?”

Anne is certain that it must be wrong. Isn’t the youngest ever someone in their twenties?

“Well,” Angel smiles sheepishly and runs her hands through her hair. “Well, I figured that since my age isn’t really set in stone, I decided to play it to my advantage.”

“You lied?”

“Just a little,” Angel says, defensively.

“How old do they think you are?”

Angel shrugs, embarrassed.

“Come on, you can tell me,” Anne urges.

She feels far more comfortable around her now that she knows they’re essentially the same age. Angel definitely looks older, but that probably comes with the territory. It sounds like she’s had quite the complicated life. Two names, two ages, kidnapped, forced to commit atrocities against her will. The age doesn’t show on her skin, but it’s evident in her eyes. Horrors lie beneath her surface.

“Go on,” Anne insists. “Tell me! Don’t be a wimp.”

Anne doesn’t know why she’s so invested in this, but she’s so curious and she feels like she desperately wants to know.

“I made them believe I was twenty-two,” she says, slyly.

“ _No way!_ ” Anne cries out. “And they actually bought that?”

“Didn’t matter,” Angel says with a smug shrug. “I had some very reliable documents that proved it. My friend… uh, he made them.”

“Oh my God, that’s insane.”

“More so when I admit the truth in a few years.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Dunno. Cause I can?” Angel says. “I’ve never really wandered why. I just always planned to, you know?”

Anne isn’t sure what to make of it, but she figures it makes some sense. She’s sure she’d want people to know she’d bested the system, too.

“So, this ‘friend’ who helped. That was Tony?”

“Oh, no no no. This is one of the kids who was kidnapped with me. One of the brightest people I know, actually. When we were free, we all helped each other out when we could. Alex helped me with re-creating my identity. I couldn’t go back to who I was. You might actually meet him one day. He started MIT last year. Second youngest person to go, next to Tony.”

“Uh, yeah, I’m always up to meeting new people,” Anne lies without conviction.

“Convincing,” Angel drawls, sarcastically. “Look, I get it. Kind of. For the first few years of my life I didn’t have any contact with the outside world. It wasn’t until I was first kidnapped that I even met someone that I hadn’t known for years.  It wasn’t until the second time I was kidnapped, when I woke up on the boat in the middle of the ocean, that I met new people my own age. If we hadn’t been fighting for our lives, I reckon I’d have been scared and nervous.”

Anne frowns at that sudden onslaught of information. That’s quite a dramatic tale. Who gets kidnapped twice?

“Right, I’d love to stay and chat, but our hour is up, and I have a meeting with the principal dancer of the New York Ballet.”

Anne looks at the clock and can’t believe that the time has managed to go so quickly. She nods to Angel and leaves the room. When she looks around, she finds Bruce sat in a chair, reading.

He looks up with a smile and then folds his reading glasses and puts them in his shirt pocket. He closes the book and stands up, motioning for her to follow.

“You didn’t have to wait for me, Dr Banner,” she says, matching his pace.

“And if you fell unconscious because of your brain problems?” he asks, kindly. “What then? And, uh, well, I wanted to be here if you wanted to talk.”

Anne smiles warmly at him, not sure how to respond but endlessly grateful for his care. She’s never had so many people she can count on to be there for her, emotionally stunted as they all seem to be. Not that she’s one to talk.

“Anne!”

As they step out of the elevator and into the common room, Anne turns to see Mr Stark jumping away from the sofa. He pushes brusquely past Mr Rogers and walks towards her, looking relieved. From the smirk on Rhodey’s face and the frown of Mr Rogers’, Anne guesses that Mr Rogers was trying to have a _Talk_ and Tony is doing everything he can to avoid it. Anne is happy to offer that reprieve. She still hasn’t forgiven Mr Rogers for his earlier slight against Mr Stark.

“How was it? Did you meet Angel? She’s fun, isn’t she? Fiery little goblin child, none of the social grace I’d expect from a ballerina, but she’s great.”

Anne can see from the frantic glint of desperation in his eyes that he’s hoping this will stall his talk with Mr Rogers. Anne is more than happy to oblige.

“Yeah, she’s pretty cool, Mr Stark,” Anne says. “But that doesn’t mean I like therapy!” She adds hurriedly, in case it’s enough for them to drop the requirement.

Mr Stark chuckles at her, and Mr Banner squeezes her shoulder and goes to sit down.

“Hardly therapy is it. More like a play date.”

“I’m not a toddler!” Anne complains, outraged.

“No, that honour goes to Tony,” Rhodey jokes, as he walks towards them. “Tantrums and inability to look after himself included.”

“Shut up, Rhodey-bear. I’m perfectly capable of self-care, and I do _not_ throw tantrums!”

“Sir, if I may, for the sake of transparency,” Mr Jarvis begins, “your history would indicate –”

“No! I can’t believe you’re tag-teaming with the platypus here!”

Rhodey grins and grabs Tony around the neck with his arm. Tony squawks, but Rhodey just laughs and rubs his knuckles through Tony’s hair.

“Nooo!” Tony whines, squirming to get away.

“Admit you’re a toddler,” Rhodey demands.

“Gerrof,” Tony pleads, trying, and failing, to dislodge himself. “ _Rhodey!”_

“Admit it!”

Tony seems foolishly stubborn enough to solider it out, but when Rhodey starts running his fingers over Tony’s ribs, he starts to gasp and splutter indignantly.

“Say it, Tony!” Rhodey urges, laughing manically. “Say you’re a toddler!”

“I… I…” Tony can’t breathe between he guffaws, but Anne knows that it’s not hurting him. “I… I’m a… Toddler!”

Rhodey cheers and releases Tony, only to pinch the man’s cheeks and coo at him. Tony slaps his hands away, pouting.

“Look at that cute little pouty lip,” Rhodey says, reaching for Tony’s face again.

Tony ducks out of the way and jumps behind Anne, who laughs uncertainly.

“If you want to get to me, Rhodeinson, you will have to fight the fearsome beast known at Anne!”

Rhodey rolls his eyes, but he puts his hands up in surrender. Tony relaxes, blowing out a puff of air that breezes on the back of her neck. She shivers. She’s not sure if she appreciates being so close to someone.

“Stark, now that you’ve finished playing, can we finish our discussion?”

Tony looks dramatically down at his wrist and then sighs.

“Look at the time,” Tony says, pointing at a watch that does not exist. “It’s late. I’ve got a thing.”

“By ‘thing’ he means ‘bedtime’,” Rhodey says, putting his hand heavily on Tony’s shoulder. “A little birdy told me someone hasn’t been sleeping regular, healthy hours like any normal adult would.”

Tony groans and turns to face Rhodey, pleadingly.

“But I have things to do,” he whines, trying to pull away.

“Sleep.”

“Alright, who’s the ‘little bird’? Barton or J?” Tony asks, eyeing the ceiling distrustfully. “My sleeping habits are no-one’s business.”

Anne watches the entire exchange bemused. Banner is entirely uninterested, and Steve just looks frustrated. Clearly, Rhodey is using Tony’s need to escape having a serious discussion as an excuse to drag Tony into some healthy habits.

“Don’t cry, I’ll read you a story,” Rhodey teases.

Tony puts on a show of not wanting to go, and Rhodey plays at being a stern parent. Steve has both hands on his hips as he watches them leave. Despite being obviously frustrated, Anne can see a fond glint in his eyes.

When Tony and Rhodey have gotten into the elevator, Steve turns to Anne and smiles warmly.

“Do you want help preparing for your MIT interview?” he offers.

Bruce groans and puts his face in his hands.

“My _what_?”

Banner sighs.

“We _were_ going to tell you over breakfast,” he says, casting a disappointed look at the shocked captain. “It was going to be a surprise.”

Anne stands stock still.

“I don’t want to go,” she says, suddenly, before running away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All and any comments/kudos are welcome.  
> They inspire me to keep going, and I love every single one.
> 
> Please don't hesitate to point out mistakes, etc.
> 
> (P.S - Note about Angel Tyler. I wrote a book when I was fourteen with her in it, and it's due to be released in the next few years. If the first in series is out before I finish this fic (which is the goal) I'll post a link to it, if you're interested)


	10. Please, come back.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne leaves.

“Anne, come on, talk to me,” Tony begs.  
After being told about the interview, Anne had run straight to her room and locked the door. It’s been twelve hours. She knows they were trying to give her time to calm down, but they didn’t realise it wasn’t time she needed. She needs to get away.   
In all honesty, she just wants to leave. This has gone too far. Too many things have happened that she didn’t expect, and it’s thrown her. She is unprepared for all of it. The illness, the generosity, the family. She can’t.  
“Go away!” Anne shouts back. “Leave me alone.”  
She can hear Tony sigh and lay his head against the door. She feels like an ungrateful brat, but it’s for the best. She’s sure. It’s for the best.  
“I’m not very good at being a reasonable adult, but I’m almost certain that that isn’t the best course of action here. Anne, come on,” he pleads. “Talk to me. We’ll figure this out, I swear.”  
Anne doesn’t want to figure it out. If anything, she wants to never figure this out, let it lie dying in a ditch, like she should be. She never deserved a second of Mr Starks time, let alone an ounce of his generosity. She should have left the moment she said ‘thankyou’. She wouldn’t have felt so conflicted, and so uncomfortable.  
“Are you angry about the interview? I thought you wanted to go? I’m sorry if I overstepped. I… I didn’t –” he sighs heavily. “I’m sorry.”  
Anne pauses.  
“You should stop packing now, young miss.”  
Dammit, Mr Jarvis.  
“Packing?” Tony calls, panicked. “What? Why?”  
Anne throws all the clothes she came with into her backpack and sets the phone and tablet she was given on the bed. It’s a shame, cause she liked them a lot, but she’s not taking anything that isn’t hers.  
She opens the door, and for a fleeting second, Tony allows himself to think she’s seeing sense, but his smile drops when she walks straight past him and into the elevator.  
“Anne, please don’t do this,” he begs. “Don’t leave. You’re still recovering! J, get Bruce!”  
“Yes, sir.”  
Tony follows her into the elevator and Anne forces herself not to look at him.  
“What’s wrong, Anne?” he asks, sounding resigned. “What happened?”  
Anne shrugs and focuses on her old, gross sneakers. She can’t tell Mr Stark, because he’ll just keep trying to convince her to stay and she doesn’t want that.  
“At least take the phone so you can call when you need me,” he says, handing the phone over.  
Anne puts her hands in her jeans pocket and looks away from it. The elevator stops and Bruce steps in, looking confused and concerned, his two base emotions.  
“Anne? Tony? What’s going on? Jarvis says you’re leaving?”  
Everything he said was a question. Anne doesn’t look up. Looking up means seeing their mixed disappointment, anger and annoyance. She figures she should at least thank them for their help before she walks away and never sees them again.  
“Uh, thanks, y’know. For the help,” she says, pulling at her sleeves. “I appreciate it.”  
“Anne, please.”  
The desperation in his voice makes her flinch, but it’s not fair for him to hang around like she does, leeching life from him. They’ve all gone out of their way to accommodate her and they shouldn’t have.  
Tony and Bruce both continue trying to talk Anne out of leaving, but she manages to block them out. She bites her lip and walks out the front door, refusing to look back. She can’t do that to them, can’t face what he selfishness has done.  
She loses herself in the crowds of unconcerned people and tries to ignore the painful pounding heart.

~  
“She’s gone,” Natasha says through her comms. “How did this happen?”  
“You mean, how did a world-renowned super-spy lose a confused teenager?” Clint mocks fear clouding his voice. “Nat needs to hone her skills, I think.”  
Nat doesn’t reply, which Tony is grateful for. He can’t take any more useless chatter, which is unusual for him. He normally thrives on it. But the day a child in his care, fresh from surgery runs away and can’t be found by two spies and a top of the line A.I is not a day Tony can stomach chatter.  
“Tony, breathe, we’ll find her,” Steve promises.  
“No, we won’t,” he chokes out as images of the newspapers front pages flash through his mind. “She could be murdered, or… or get kidnapped again… or –”  
“Tony!”  
The sounds feel heavy in his ears, and he feels himself stumbling over to a deks and collapsing into a chair. His shaky hands cover his face as memories of his parents deaths hit him. Memories of Afganistan, the torture he suffered, the torture she could be suffering and the images play in his mind like a power point on crack, each page a new trauma, but instead of himself, it’s Anne superimposed on each scene. Dead on a stretcher, screaming air bubbles into a trough of cold, oily water, being grabbed by men and pulled into a van and he let her go! He let her die. He didn’t do enough to keep her safe. Didn’t—  
“Tony!”  
Steve is staring in horror as Tony’s shattered breath fails completely and his eyes roll into the back of his head. Steve grabs Tony before he slumps to the floor and then desperately calls for Bruce. JARVIs, meanwhile, is updating Clint and Natasha.  
“He worried about a lawsuit or something?” Clin says, which is answered with a distinctly sharp slap, and a pained yelp from Clint. “You made my comms electrocute me.”  
A brief second of static leaves the speakers in the workshop, and Steve realises that JARVIS is actually to blame for that one.  
“Steve, recovery position. JARVIS, keep searching.”  
“Yes, sir,” the two reply simultaneously.  
Bruce is trying to stay calm. He’s not worried about a hulk-out, but he can’t lose his head when he has a frantic billionaire and a vulnerable teenager to care for. After checking Tony’s heart-rate (too fast) and his blood pressure (too high), he had Steve carry him to something that resembled an operating table, but Bruce knows it’s something Tony uses when he’s working on his suits. Steve is achingly gentle, careful not to jostle him.  
Bruce trailed behind, accepting a cold flannel from U and declining the offer to put out a non-existent fire from Dum-E. Bruce can’t decide if the robots are more like children or puppies, but either way, they are endearingly loyal to their creator.  
Bruce settles the flannel on Tony’s forehead and continues to check vitals, despite JARVIS throwing up a screen with them all on. Bruce may not be ‘that kind of doctor’ but he spent enough time in Calcutta to know his way around the human body. Tony, unfortunately, has been the one who consistently needs to use his limited medical skill-set.

 

~  
Thor is confused. He was forced to return ton Asgard for some… family matters, and immediately wished to return to Midgard. Friend Stark had granted him a place to rest, given him food to eat (and the most glorious, too. He was immediately aware of Thors taste for pop tarts), and offered him companionship. All for the price of nothing. This is not what confuses Thor. No. His confusion comes from Stark’s behaviour.  
He had once assumed the man to be as egotistical and blind to other people, just like Loki. He had assumed that a man like Stark was a glory-seeking narcissist, a man incapable of caring. And why? Why had he thought this? How were he and Thor any different? Both had been born into a privilege lifestyle, wanting for little.   
Thor has come to the conclusion, after weeks of observing his teammates, that he has blindly followed a norm because it was comfortable and not because he truly believed it. Which disheartens him. He wishes he was stronger than that, but he had been ignorant and blind to other people, just like he had assumed of the Man of Iron.  
It’s a shame that it took watching the man fall apart to have the rug of reality torn from beneath him, forcing him to the ground and to see things from a different perspective.  
Stark is none of the things he had though, and yet, everyone else readily accepts these pre-disposed ideas.  
Thor is also confused by the one who calls himself and Hawk and the Spider. He was told that they were highly regarded as being able to see things others could not. He is also confused by the captain, who seems only to regard Tony as a petulant child. The only Avenger to see Tony as the man he truly is, is Bruce. He seems to respect Tony as much as the man’s closest acquaintances.  
But, as Thor watches Stark succumb to panic over the safety of a child he does no know, he knows he has done the man a great dishonour. Tony Stark is no ego-maniac. He is clearly capable of caring. He is vastly misunderstood by those who should know him better. Thor has also learnt that Tony is near constantly wearing a mask thicker than his suit.  
Which makes Thor wonder, why would he hide away like that? Who taught him that compassion is a crime? Why would everyone remain oblivious to the man’s struggles when it is something Thor has managed to see so clearly?  
Thor will have to work hard to make up for his mistakes. First, he needs to find the child whose absence is the caught of such distress. It’s a shame he cannot communicate with Heimdall, for he is all seeing and would instantly locate the youngling.  
“I will search the skies as the others cover the ground,” Thor announces, startling them all.  
He grins at them, astounded that in their panic they missed his arrival. He is normally not known for his stealth. Steve recovers quickly and smiles in relief.  
“Thank you, Thor. We appreciate it.”  
Thor departs, sparing one finally fearful glance at the Man of Iron. He is pale, and even in sleep, he is shaking. Thor’s heart twinges and, very purposefully, he leaves the tower and begins his search for the young maiden.

~

Thor is worried. The sun has been down for a long time, and a chill has settled over the air. He does not know if Anne has found shelter, and she is already so very frail. She will not fare well.  
However, as always, he strives to remain optimistic, and despite the sinking feeling in his stomach, he keeps telling his team that they will find her soon. Natasha and Clint are still searching. Steve and Bruce are helping to look over Tony and assist the man in the walls.  
Tony, it seems, is still unconscious, though it has apparently turned into a fitful slumber. It is telling to how poorly he maintains his health that it is even possible. Not that it is anything new. If Thor has learned anything about the man’s habits from his shield brothers, it’s that Stark does not care himself as much as he cares for others.

~  
“I have found the youngling,” Thor announces, loud enough that Tony is shocked awake from his panic induced nap. “I will try and speak with her.”  
Tony scrambles from the table and, had it not been for Steve, he would have face-planted the floor. Despite sleeping for a few hours, Tony is still pale, shaky and his face is carved deep with stress lines. He fumbles for his footing and makes it over to his desk, sitting down heavily.  
“Is she OK?’  
“She seems to be in mild distress,” Thor reports.  
Tony almost starts to hyperventilate, but Steve puts heavy hands on his shoulders to help calm him. Tony is trembling, but when JARVIS brings up a video feed of the alley-way, his breathing evens out.  
They all watch Anne as she huddles between two large garbage cans, tears cascading down her face. She doesn’t look hurt, but she’s clearly upset. Thor is gentle as he lands on the ground near her and kneels in front of her.  
“Young maiden, what ails you?”  
She startles at his unexpected appearance and tries to rub away all evidence of her crying. It fails abysmally because the area around her eyes is red and splotchy, and her lower lip continues to wobble dangerously.  
“Nothing,” she mumbles. “I’m fine.”  
Thor's booming laugh makes her flinch and stare at him in confusion. He looks at her with a wide grin.  
“How like Tony you are,” he comments, standing up. “Claiming to be fine when all evidence suggests otherwise.”  
Steve and Bruce both chuckle at how Tony and Anne adopt identical expressions at the accusation. What they may call a scowl is most definitely a pout. Steve squeezes Tony’s shoulder to remind him they’re there, and the man hurries to school his expression.  
“That’s… No, I… whatever,” Anne settles one, lamely. “What do you want?”  
She pulls her knees into her chest and wraps her arms around them tightly.  
Thor looks unsure for a moment, but then holds out a hand. She looks at it for a second, before shrugging and accepting it. Thor pulls her upright, and then picks up her backpack. He throws it over his own shoulder, which looks tiny compared to his hulking form. Anne clearly thinks so, as she stifles a smile.  
“Come, let’s find warmth so we may discuss things.”  
“Not the tower!” she says, hurriedly.  
“I believe I saw a twenty-four-hour pizza place near here,” Thor says thoughtfully. “How about there?”  
After a moment’s hesitation, Anne nods and together they leave the alleyway.  
“J?” Tony says, his voice weak with relief.  
“I’ll keep an eye on them, sir.”  
The screen goes dark and Tony is suddenly terrified that Thor won’t return with Anne, and despite wanting to know she’s safe, he trusts Thor to keep her out of harm’s way. However, he won’t eavesdrop. She deserves privacy. And he doesn’t know if he’s ready to hear why she hates him. He has heard enough of that in his lifetime.  
“What exactly did Stark do to fuck this up?” comes Clint’s judgemental drawl.  
Tony’s shoulders fall and his head hangs forward. Clint snickers, but Tony stands up and leaves. He looks so broken that Steve feels his throat constrict. Bruce is watching Tony’s retreating form with an aching expression.  
“Clint!” Steve hisses, the moment Tony is out of earshot. “What is your problem?”  
“I’m just asking what Stark did to drive her out – Shit, Nat. Stop! Ow!” Clint whines. “Jesus, I don’t get why you have to hurt me, you witch.”  
“Because,” Nat says with a low growl, “you never think before you speak.”  
“You’ll be apologising the moment you return,” Steve orders, feeling more like a mom than a captain.  
“Don’t bother,” Tony’s voice rings through comms, mournfully. “He’s right.”  
No one says anything. Even Clint keeps his mouth shut, clearly realizing that his words have repercussions. Whether he regrets it is another problem altogether.  
“If she comes back, tell her I won’t bother her.”  
The team, though really it’s mostly Bruce and Steve, try to talk to him, but he shuts his comms off.  
“Dammit, Clint,” Steve admonishes.  
“Jarvis, can you –”  
“Of course. My primary functions are to keep sir safe.”  
Bruce smiles despite his mood. He knows that JARVIS, being a learning AI, has taken his own interpretation of his initial programming. It warms Bruce’s heart that Tony will always have someone who loves him, if anything were to happen to himself, Pepper of Rhodey. JARVIS is like a child in every sense of the word, except in maturity.

~

Anne is watching as Thors face contorts through an amalgam of expressions. He looks angry, disappointed and resigned. Anne tries to focus her attention elsewhere, to tell herself that it’s not about her, but she can’t seem to convince herself. She can’t seem to help that her mind goes there first, and that Thor is listening to a diatribe on the comms she knows he has in his ear.  
“Are they all angry?” she asks, hesitantly. “I understand if they are. I know it looks like I’m being ungrateful and throwing all of Mr Starks help back in his face, but it’s… I can’t… I… I don’t…”  
Thor is patient, though it is hard to see the young girl so clearly upset and frustrated. He doesn’t fully understand her relation with the Man of Iron, nor does he have any clues about what has transpired in his absence. Maybe it is for the best. A perspective clear of expectations.  
“I don’t want to settle,” she says, eventually.  
“Want?”  
Anne bites at her thumbnail, nervous eyes flitting between Thor’s own and the table. He’s clearly found the weakness in her objections, cause she simply shrugs.  
“You do not want to leave, I am guessing. But maybe you do not exactly know what you do want or why exactly you decided to leave. Uncertainty is natural. But I can help, if only you will allow.”  
Anne is about to shrug again, but a teenaged server nervously stands by their table with a blush and a notepad. Thor grins at him.  
“Ah, you will deliver us food?”  
The boy flinches as his boisterous demeanour and incredibly intimidating body. Thor can see two other boys watching from a distance, and he wonders if they boy in front of his drew a short straw, as the Hawkman often says.  
“I would have a large of everything,” Thor announces excitedly. “And whatever my dining partner wishes, also.”  
The boy has not written down their order, and Thor is immediately concerned. Is he confused? Maybe he is deaf? Stark warned that sometimes his voice can burst eardrums.  
“Did you not hear me?”  
“I think he’s shocked by your order, Mr… uh, Thor,” Anne says, turning to the boy. “Can we just have a large pepperoni and when it looks like it’s nearly finished, bring over a Hawaiian? Just keep the pizza coming, working down the menu. Is that OK?”  
The boy nods at Anne’s clever suggested.  
“And mead!”  
“Mead?” the boy stutters.  
“Your finest, and by the barrel,” Thor demands, smiling.  
“Is that beer?” the boy asks, confused.  
“Yeah, I think so,” Anne replies, snickering.  
“We don’t sell that here,” the boy says, seemingly more nervous talking to Anne than to Thor. “Uh, sorry.”  
“No fear. I’m sure you can acquire some for our enjoyment.”  
Thor is confused further by the boys increased awkwardness and Anne’s stifled laughter.  
“Mr Thor, I can’t drink beer,” she says, smiling. “I’m not old enough.”  
“How is your age of matter here?”  
“Just bring the pizza, please?” Anne asks of the boy, belaying her answer to Thor.  
The boy nods jerkily and scampers away. Thor cannot hide his disappointment in being denied his favourite drink, nor his confusion that Anne has not drunk it before. He will need to remedy this. His teammates will surely wish to partake. Drinking among friends is a time-honoured tradition, and it is a crime that she has not yet experienced it.  
“So,” Thor asks, guiding them back to the conversation. “You were saying? About Tony?”  
Anne fidgets with her new blonde hair, and Thor is suddenly curious about where it came from. Had he not noticed that Midgardians grew hair abnormally fast compared to Asgardians? Thor is amazed by their skills.  
“I just don’t want… I don’t think… It’s gone too far,” she settles on finally. “Mr Stark is making up for a past he isn’t to blame for and building a future he shouldn’t feel responsible for.”  
Thor is not sure what to make of her words. He is saddened that she feels this way, and further surprised as Starks influence and generosity. Despite not knowing this girl, he has taken it upon himself to care for her like he cares for the team.  
“Man of Iron is a most honourable teammate,” Thor says, smiling. “He gives much, while asking little in return. I believe he does what he does because he cares. I also believe that he likes that he’s useful. He is often disregarded and misjudged, but I see now that he is more than what I was initially led to believe. I don’t know what has led you to the tower, or why you believe you are not deserving of his kindness, but let me assure you that you are worth every ounce of effort and every second of time that is being invested into you. Stark only wishes to ease the burden that life has laid on your shoulders.”  
The boy brings over pizza, looking quite confused and unsure, as he did when he left. Anne takes a large slice and busies herself with eating. Thor joins in, knowing that food is a comfortable replacement for conversation when words are hard to speak. He will spare her the time, for she needs it. She will find those words in the end.  
Thor, in the meantime, is happily distracted by the food. It tastes heart, and Anne had ordered the young mortal to ‘keep it coming’. It is for the best, as Thor had grown steadily more hungry as he searched for Anne. He is excited to refill the space that his hours of starvation opened.  
“How much pizza do you think you can eat?” Anne asks, her eyes wide with wonder. “Ten?”  
Thor notices that Anne has not even finished her first slice. Is it because she is so small, or is it normal for humans to take so long? Thor has finished three-quarters of the pizza already.  
“At the very least,” Thor booms. “It takes much to appease my appetite.”  
“Awesome. I can’t even eat ten slices,” Anne admits, admiringly. “What do you eat on your home planet?”  
“Ah, we have the most wonderous feats. The tables are laden with glazed meats, towers of roasted potatoes, heaps of vegetables and mounds of glorious bread. After a long battle, a good warrior would turn their dinner and indulge in the feast, which would sate their hunger for the rest of the night.”  
“Cool. Asgard sounds awesome,” Anne whispers, with reverence. “What’s it like there?”  
Thor recognises it as a diversion technique. Loki was prone to talking himself out of problems, and after years of being tricked into forgetting the topic of conversation, Thor has learned to notice them early on.  
However, if she needs the distraction for a little while, perhaps to gather her thoughts, then Thor understands and will happily play along.  
Another pizza replaces the empty platter as Thor enters a lengthy description of his home, sparing no details. He tells her of the palace, the people, the beasts and the history. He speaks of his friends and his family, his childhood and the future her abdicated from. She listens with rapt attention and an awed smile.  
He is hesitant to go into much detail about Loki, because the team are less than subtle about their thoughts towards him. However, Anne may not have the same predisposition to hate him. So, he tentatively tests the waters, talking about the games they played as children. Far from telling him that she wishes not to hear about the man who tried to level the city, she seems enamoured with their games and tricks.  
“Awesome,” she breathes. “Could I go there one day?”  
“Alas, you cannot,” he laments. “The bi-frost is no longer equipped with carrying two people.”  
“That sucks.”  
She is still eating her second slice of pizza as the boy brings over the third. He seems incredibly impressed with Thor’s eating, and he keeps blushing every time he looks in Anne’s direction. That stirs some protective instincts he hasn’t felt since Loki was but a boy.  
“Indeed.”  
Anne fidgets more as they fall into silence again and looks at her twisting fingers when she realises Thor is watching her. He is simple analysing her facial expressions and trying to discover what mysteries lie beneath her surface.  
“I didn’t want to stay because I didn’t want it to end unexpectedly.”  
Thor is so shocked by her admission that he doesn’t really know what to say. Anne seems to take his silence to mean something else, and she quickly pales and shakily stands up.  
“I know it was rude to assume when I could leave, but I… I was in too deep and… and I didn’t know what else to do.”  
“Anne,” Thor begins.  
“I don’t want to make everyone mad! I just don’t know if I can handle that again. I can’t… I don’t… tell them I’m sorry, but I have to…”  
“Anne,” Thor repeats, more insistently.  
“I shouldn’t have let it get so far, I know that, and… and I will work as hard as I can to make sure I pay him back for everything, I promise…”  
“Anne, please calm down,” Thor urges, feeling jittery just watching her.  
“He can send me a bill or something. I haven’t quite figured out where I’m going to be just yet, but I’m sure I can sort that out eventually, no doubt Mr Stark can find me when he figures out how ungrateful I am and wants his money back.”  
Thor, knowing that she’s in panic mode and probably can’t hear him anyway, stands up. He ignores her cautious step backwards and engulfs her in a mighty hug. He feels her stiffen in his arms, and he worries that he has made a grave mistake. Tony startles at even the smallest human contact, and Bruce shies away from it also. The spies have warned him against enacting spontaneous bouts of tactile comfort, though Thor is yet to understand why.  
As Thor is ready to let go and apologize, Anne wraps her arms around Thor. She can’t quite reach beyond his vast expanse of stomach because her arms are so small and he is so mighty, but it feels like acceptance nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's a little shorter than what I normally post, but I've finally reached the end of my pre-written work. Everything I post from now on will be written between posting dates.  
> As promised, this is one of those spontaneous updates that happen every month or so.
> 
> Hope you're enjoying it so far.


	11. I'm sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn a little about Anne's past.
> 
> *Trigger Warning*  
> -Child abuse.  
> -Panic Attack

Anne isn’t sure why she feels so uncomfortable with human contact.

That’s a lie. She knows exactly why. Maybe the question is why does she still feel uncomfortable around people who haven’t hurt her even once? Why can’t she shake the feeling that one of them will hit hurt or worse? Why can’t she escape the mind-set that no one is safe?

Deep down, she guesses that she knows that too, but doesn’t want too delve that deep and consider it. It would only bring up a ton of horrific memories that she’d rather leave buried in the past.

Maybe that’s why she wants to leave. She doesn’t want to add to her trauma, and based on life experiences, telling herself that it won’t happen isn’t exactly an affective method. She can’t erase a fear ingrained into her since she was old enough to create memories.

Anne has to force herself to become lax in Thor’s arms. He’s obviously not sure what to do, and is clearly a man who uses human contact to communicate as much as he does with words. He’s hardly cuddly. He’s just one massive block of muscle.

“Might you return to the tower with me? Tony is most worried about you.”

“I don’t know,” Anne admits, pulling out of the hug to look at her feet anxiously. “I’ve caused too much trouble.”

“Nonsense. Tony would be most pleased to have you back. We can put this entire episode behind us.”

Anne isn’t sure, but from the way Thor puts his hand on her shoulder and guides her out, she figures she actually doesn’t have that much of a choice. She tries to turn around, to tell the boys to put it on a tab, but the next thing she knows, Thor has gathered her up in his arms and is flying through the air.

The hair on her body spikes, and she feels like they’re riding on an electric current. Thor looks majestic, his hair flying behind him and his face serious. Anne, on the other hand, thinks she probably looks a mess. She’s desperately holding her wig in place, and gripping onto Thors forearm with all her might. She tries her best not to look down, but with the cold air stinging her eyes, the tears might blur out the fear of heights anyway.

They land on top of the tower, and Anne is immediately regretting her decision. She doesn’t want to be here. She doesn’t want to face the people she let down by leaving, especially Mr Stark. She finds herself standing partially hidden behind Thor, who merely smiles encouragingly and walks towards the door.

Reluctantly she follows, and the moment she steps into the building, she feels on edge.

“Young Miss, I’m glad you have arrived back safely,” Mr Jarvis says.

Anne shrugs, not sure what to say. She’s probably made everyone angry. Thor seems pretty chill about it all, but if she’s learnt anything from life, it’s that it hurts and people lie. Thor might have appeared sincere, but there’s no saying whether he actually is. Maybe he’s bringing her back so they can corner her and scream at her.

They take the elevator down to the lounge, and the moment the doors open, Clint stands up from the sofa, looking relieved.

“Anne, you’re OK,” he breathes. “We were worried.”

“Anne, you can’t go running around New York at night, anything could have happened,” Steve says.

“You had nothing to defend yourself with,” Natasha tells her, disapprovingly.

“You’re still in recovery,” Bruce warns. “Your body wouldn’t be able to handle the cold and whatever else may have happened.”

Anne stands with her back to Thors chest, taking in the faces of the team, each one looking as panicked as the next. This is not what she’d imagined when she came back. Anger, disappointment, resentment maybe, but not this. Just genuine care. Not worry. She doesn’t know what to do.

“Where’s Mr Stark?” she asks, shakily.

“Think he felt guilty for driving you away, so he locked himself on his floor,” Clint says dismissively.

“ _Clint_ ,” Steve, Thor and Bruce all admonish together.

“What? I’m just saying.”

Anne glares at him before looking up at the ceiling.

“Mr Jarvis, can you tell Mr Stark I’m sorry?”

“Absolutely, Young Miss.”

“And you,” Anne says, turning to face Clint and pointing her finger. “Mr Stark isn’t the reason I left. You’re not very nice to him, considering the fact that he lets you live here and pays for your food and builds your weapons.”

“I’m nice to him,” Clint argues.

“That’s a lie,” Natasha offers, dully.

Clint shrugs and throws himself on the sofa. Anne likes him, and she wants to continue liking him, but he’s not the most respectful person, and she can’t quite look past that. There’s so little decency in the world, and Mr Stark offers them a life of luxury on a platter and Mr Barton throws it away like it’s nothing.

“Mr Stark has refused your apology, saying he’s the one who should apologise,” Mr Jarvis interrupts. “He also wishes to inform you that he will stay out of your way in the future. You’re free to do as you wish in the tower, but he won’t continue to enforce his presence on you.”

Anne guesses that Jarvis has purposefully changed the wording so that Anne understand she isn’t being cast-aside, but she still feels her chest tighten and her bottom lip quiver. Jarvis sounds quite angry at having to pass on the message at all, and one glance at Clint tells her that he’s ashamed of himself.

Anne wants to tell Jarvis to pass a message back, to tell Mr Stark that he’s being an idiot, but instead of words, a sob escapes her throat, and before she knows what’s happening, Thor has pulled her into another hug and she hides her face in his chest.

 

~

“She’s crying,” JARVIS tells Tony. “On Thor.”

“Oh _fuck_ ,” Tony groans, putting his face in his hands. “How angry at me is she?”

“Sir, I don’t believe she is angry at you at all. I think all of her anger is aimed very specifically at Mr Barton. She heard what he accused you of, and then you had me relay the message, and she simply broke down. I think she’s angry _for_ you, and not _at_ you.”

Tony stares at the desk, wondering how he managed to make something as remarkable as JARVIS. No one else in the world can say they’ve managed to make an AI quite as intelligent as JARVIS is. He can name several people who aren’t as empathetic as JARVIS, including himself, and it’s really a feat he doesn’t think he can take all the credit for. JARVIS has built himself out of the code Tony spent all that time making. He’s really quite incredible.

“Thank you, sir, but you don’t give yourself enough credit.”

Tony laughs brokenly and shakes his head. He really needs to get a handle on his talking out loud problem.

“She isn’t blaming you, Sir, because you did nothing wrong,” JARVIS tells him coolly.

“But –”

“No, sir. I will not allow you to convince yourself you are at fault when you have nothing to warrant it.”

Tony’s mouth snaps shut and he lets his shoulders sag against the sofa. For whatever reason, he can’t seem to convince himself that he’s done nothing wrong. He’s not sure why that is exactly, but blame is such an easy thing for him to accept. People die in the middle-east? He should have fixed that. Millions die from starvation? He should have funded a relief effort. Someone doesn’t get into college because they’re too poor? Tony should have set up more scholarships.

For Anne to have run away and it _not_ be his fault is such an anomaly, and for that reason, he just can’t seem to accept it as the truth.

“She’s asking after you, sir.”

“Tell her –”

‘She’s coming down in the elevator now.”

Tony frowns at JARVIS’s antics, but when Anne appears in his penthouse and runs at him, wrapping her arms around his chest, he figures that maybe, just maybe, JARVIS isn’t being too devious.

“I’m so sorry,” she mumbles, eyes closed. “I didn’t want to let myself get used to it in case it was taken away, because that would hurt, it always hurts, so I just wanted to make sure that didn’t happen and I wanted to protect myself, and I didn’t mean to let you think it was your fault, because it’s not, I swear it’s not!”

Tony feels kind of sick, and it’s not because of the hug. He feels sick because what she’s describing it not something he’s unfamiliar with. He knows that that’s like. Too many times Tony has been led to believe that people care for him, only for it to have been a lie. People want his money or his brains.

His personality, apparently, leaves a lot to be desired. He doesn’t care though. How could he? He learnt that trying to be better is a waste of his time. He could use the time he spends on attempting self-improvement in his lab, making things for his team and improving provisions around the world. No one _needs_ Tony Stark. They need Iron Man and the brains of its creator.

“I’m sorry,” Anne mumbles again, her voice choked on tears.

Tony runs a hand over her wig before wincing. It’s probably not very comforting. He moves to her shoulder instead, rubbing calming circles as she cries, soaking his shirt with her tears. He feels frozen and incredible ridiculous, because he’s not used to someone crying on him, unless it’s Pepper. He’s not sure how he feels about how much it hurts to hear Anne cry. Almost as if she were…

“She was worried,” Thor says from the doors of the elevator.

Tony jumps, his arms tightening around Anne. She giggles wetly, still not relenting her hold. Tony shakes his head but smiles despite his sudden shock. He hadn’t noticed Thor standing there, which is impressive. The man is like a beacon, drawing attention even among chaos.

“Of what?”

“I was worried I’d made you angry, or made you think you were a bad person or something,” Anne says, pulling away and wiping at her eyes. ‘I just… _needed_ … I thought I needed to leave before I got used to it, but Thor convinced me to come back. But then I heard what Clint was saying, and I thought you might have taken him seriously, and then been angry at me for him thinking that, and then be angry at yourself if you thought he was telling the truth, and I didn’t know what to do, so I decided to come down here, and I can leave if you want me to, I’ll go, you never have to hear from me again if you don’t want to and –”

Tony cuts her off by pulling her back into the hug.

“I don’t want you to go anywhere,” he tells her. “I want you to stay here where you’re safe. You deserve better, and if I can give you better, then I will.”

“Clint’s an idiot, Mr Stark,” Anne says, tearfully.

Tony laughs, though he feels the tell tale signs of emotions breaking the surface.

“Yeah, I can’t dispute that.”

Anne giggles, and pushes away from Tony again. She wipes at her eyes, and looks mildly embarrassed, but Tony notes first how exhausted she looks. Her pale pallor brings out the dark bags under her eyes, and Tony remembers that it’s been a while since any of them slept, though he’s valiantly trying to ignore that he passed out in front of Captain America. He’s embarrassed enough to not want to think about that too deeply.

“Bed time, I think,” Tony announces.

“A most wonderful idea,” Thor agrees. “Sleep is the best medicine.”

“I thought that was Calpol,” Anne mutters, though she doesn’t argue as she’s ushered over to the elevator. “You’re… not angry at me?”

Tony is stunned by the question, so filled with anxiety and worry that he can’t help but crack a sad smile. God, why does she remind him so much of himself? The side he keeps under lock and key, the one his father never wanted but the one he had cultivated from years of abuse and neglect.

“Of course not. Fight or flight is perfectly natural.”

Anne seems to want to argue this, but her own body betrays her, and she yawns instead.

“Definitely bed time,” Tony reaffirms.

Anne groans her reluctance but makes no real move to argue. She simply shuffles into the elevator with Tony and Thor, leaning up against the former as the doors close. Tony watches her, listens to her breathing slowing down and she starts to fall asleep standing up.

“She must have been very tired,” Thor notes in the quietest voice Tony has ever heard.

Tony merely hums in response and carefully lifts Anne into his arms. For a girl in her early teens, she’s still impossibly light, and Tony worries that she’s far too underweight to be alive. He’ll have to jump on the bandwagon of getting her to eat better, even if it comes with the downside of having to eat himself. He’ll do anything to make sure she’s safe and healthy.

~

After Thor and Tony put Anne to bed, they both go to their respective floors, but just before Tony is drifting off, JARVIS informs him that Steve and Natasha have left for a mission. Despite the niggle of worry in the pit of his stomach, Tony allows his exhaustion to carry him to sleep.

~

The next morning, Anne wakes up in her bed without remembering getting there. She lays with her eyes closed for a while, trying to piece together why she feels so uneasy, and then she remembers everything that happened the day before and she groans, burrowing deeper into the duvet.

“Young Miss, Sir is in your kitchen with Mister Odinson and Mister Barton. They are preparing breakfast and ask that you join them when you are awake.”

“Thank you, Mr Jarvis.”

“You’re absolutely welcome, young miss.”

Anne rolls her eyes at his excessive use of her apparently new name and slowly climbs out of bed. She considers getting dressed, but her pyjamas are so comfortable, and she would happily lounge in them all day if she could.

As far as Anne is aware, there’s nothing happening today of worth, so she can’t see there being a problem with her choice of attire. She doesn’t have therapy, and really, beyond that, she doesn’t have anything else that she’d be doing anyway.

“Pajama party?” Clint calls when he sees her. “Me too!”

He runs to the elevator, and Anne stares after him, blinking and stunned.

“Come and dine with us, young maiden,”

Anne turns to face the kitchen, and she see’s Tony wearing a captain America apron stood in front of the stove and Thor is casual clothes sat at the island. A plate sits in the middle of the table with heaps on pancakes, and she knows that they are mostly for Thor. While Clint may be able to pack it away like the next guy, no human could eat that much food.

“Thor eats like a goddamn… well, god,” Tony tells her, as she sits down.

“You should have seen him eating pizza last night. For every slice I ate, he managed an entire pizza. It was crazy.”

“Maybe we should run some experiments to see just how much he can eat,” Tony suggests, placing a plate in front of Anne and a glass of orange juice. “We could record it.”

“Can I be the person who isn’t a god that eats? You need those in the experiment, right? A control group?” Clint asks, as he sits down at the island, greedily pulling pancakes onto his plate. “I would love to be able to help you do your sciency things.”

Tony and Clint grin at each other, and Anne wonders where the distaste Clint felt yesterday went. Maybe they talked it through and overcame it? Hopefully Clint has seen the light and has chosen to accept that maybe, just maybe, Tony is a good person who is trying his best to appease them all.

“Where are Miss Romanoff and Mr Rogers?” Anne asks, looking around the room in case they just showed up.

“Mission,” Clint grumbles, his smiles gone. “Somewhere in the ocean.”

“You seem extraordinarily happy about that,” Anne notes, teasingly. “We could always have a movie day.”

Clint visibly perks up.

“Perfect way to spent pyjama day, if you ask me,” he says. “And I can show you all the best movies about archers.”

“Why? Want to pick up some tips?”

Clint sticks his tongue out at her, and she cringes away from the chewed up food on his tongue. Tony laughs and Thor watches them all with a bemused expression.

“Movie time!” Clint calls as he jumps away from the island and vaults over the sofa.

Anne finishes her pancake and tries to help clear up, but Tony slaps her hands away gently.

“No, I’ll clean up. You go watch your movie.”

“Yes, _mom_ ,” Anne jokes.

Tony ruffles her hair and she goes towards the lounge at a far more sedate pace.

“You coming, Mr Stark? Thor?”

“Sure,” Tony says, smiling. “Give me a minute.”

“I will also join you shortly, but first I must dress appropriately.”

Anne laughs as Thor goes into the elevator, and Tony shakes his head at the man's enthusiasm. Clint is grinning like a kid at Christmas as he lounges in what Anne realises are Hulk pyjama pants and a Hawkeye shirt.

“Little egotistical to wear yourself on a shirt, isn’t it?” Anne asks, pointing to it.

“Someone’s jealous that they don’t have their own.”

Anne fakes a pout.

“Maybe. Doubt it’ll be that hard to get one. Besides, with this dope-ass wig, who wouldn’t want me on their shirt?” Anne challenges.

“If I ever see a grown man with you on his shirt, I’ll punch him,” Clint says, uncharacteristically serious. “But I’ll see about getting one just for you.”

Anne grins and turns to face the screen as the movie starts.

 

~

 

Tony is feeling stupidly content with the day. He’d even opted to wear sweats and a Rhodey’s old MIT sweatshirt (and boy did Clint give him shit for that addition), and he sat and watched all the Hunger Games movies.

Anne was happily commentating on the movie, while Clint enthused about how the movies made kids think he was one hundred per cent cooler than before (“So, one extra person thought you were cool?” Tony had joked).

“I wish I knew how to do archery,” Anne said, as the final credits rolled.

Instantly, Clint was looking at Tony.

“You’re asking me permission?” Tony asks, a little shocked.

“She’s _your_ kid,” Clint tells him like it’s obvious. “I can’t take her to learn without your permission.”

Tony looks to Anne to see how she feels about this sudden proclamation, but far from denying it, she looks a little stunned. And even then, her lips turn up into a small smile. Tony is silent for so long that her expression turns hard, but her eyes wide.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Clint. Tony doesn’t want me as a kid,” she scoffs. “I’m like a guest of honour, but not his _kid._ ”

Tony can see that she regrets her wording almost immediately, and her scowl is so adorable that it’s almost funny.

“The adoption papers and days away from coming through, and you tell me now that you don’t want to be my kid?” he asks, jokingly.

“Days away?”

“Hey, no panicking!” Clint shouts, making everyone but Thor flinch. “Tony might not be dad material, but he’s got the contacts to get you into a good school and a good job. Take what you can get.”

Tony frowns but tries not to let the hurt cut through his mask of stoicism.

“I think Tony is a great dad,” Anne whispers, self-consciously.

They all fall into a strange silence. Clint is looking confused, Thor amused and Anne blushes. Tony, however, is feeling a strange sense of… happiness. She thinks he’s a good dad? Even though he’s not a dad at all? It warms his heart and he smiles brightly.

“Sure, Clint. You can take _my kid_ to practice archery, but she comes back in one piece or you’ll be out of my tower in five.”

Clint snorts, but his excitement takes precedence and he jumps up, offering his hand to Anne and she takes it. As they’re leaving, Tony makes eye contact with Anne and gives her the best ‘fatherly’ smile he can offer just as the doors of the elevator close.

“Fatherhood will suit you well,” Thor tells him. “You are caring and she could use the mentorship you have to offer. I see that having her around already makes you a different person. A happier one.”

Tony stares at Thor for a long time.

“You think so?”

“I think you underestimate yourself because you have little around you to tell you otherwise. Anne loves you, and is fiercely protective. I imagine that should Clint saying anything  even slightly derogatory against you, Clint will be returning to us with an arrow in his foot.”

Tony laughs, but it’s such a strange realization. And then…

“Crap,” he whispers. “I need to call Pepper.”

 

~

 

Anne is struggling to even hold the bow, let alone shoot in. Clint, who she had assumed would be impatient and quick to laugh at her mistakes, has been endlessly understanding, and never once criticises her.

“You need to fix your footing,” he tells her gently. “Here, look at mine and copy.”

Anne looks at his feet and arranges herself to match. Clint nods his approval, though he uses his own feet to straighten her toes. He then holds his own bow up, and Anne copies.

“Hold that,” Clint says, as he carefully manoeuvres her arm. “It’ll take a while to build your strength up, and that’s a large part of archery. You’ll get better with time but go ahead. Release the string when you think you’ve got a good aim.”

Anne doesn’t know how to tell whether she has her aim sorted, but she tries to line the arrow head with her line of sight, and when her hands are steady enough, she releases and watches as it embeds itself in the wall a few inches away from the target board.

“Don’t worry about it, my little protégé. It’s not an easy skill to pick up. To be honest, I think it’s severely underestimated as an art, but you’re young and hip and when you have your social media set up, you can tell everyone how great I am and how much respect everyone should have for my job.”

Anne laughs as Clint helps her load another arrow. They’re at it for almost two hours before the straining on her arms becomes too much for her to endure. Clint takes her right bicep and gently massages it, taking some of the pain away.

“I think we’ll call it for the day, but you’re welcome to join me tomorrow if your arm doesn’t hurt too much.”

“Thanks, Mr Barton. It’s fun. How long did it take you to learn?”

“Call me Clint, please, Mr Barton makes me sound old,” he says, laughing. “And I was born with a bow and arrow. I didn’t learn, I just did.”

Anne rolls her eyes but recognises that maybe it’s not actually a topic he wants to discuss, and she’s willing to respect that. They head back upstairs for dinner, listening to Tony grumble about Pepper shouting at him.

“Why are you in trouble this time?” Clint asks as he grabs a few beers from the fridge.

“I didn’t exactly tell her about adopting Anne,” Tony admits, as he cuts up the vegetables. “She’s pissed.”

Anne is frozen in her chair. This all feels horribly familiar.

_“Your father is angry because he never wanted you,” Annes mother slurs from the sofa. “He never wanted a kid, and now he’s tied down. Well done, Anne. You’ve ruined my marriage.”_

_“I’m sorry, momma,” Anne had cried, curling into the corner of the living room. “I didn’t mean to.”_

_“Maybe not, but now your dad has gone and died and I’m left with you.”_

_Anne didn’t know her dad was dead. She hadn’t heard anything of the sort. She’d just come home from pre-school to find her mother drunk on the sofa, looking angry. Anne knew what that meant. It meant being peppered with bruises and telling her teachers that she fell down the stairs when she tried to get a glass of milk in the middle of the night._

_“Daddy is dead?” she asks, her voice barely a whisper._

_“Didn’t I just say that?” her mother screeches. “And you killed him, you little brat. And now I have nothing.”_

“Anne?”

_“I’m sorry, momma,” Anne says softly through tears. “I’m so sorry.”_

_“You will be, you little brat.”_

“Anne, come back.”

_“I didn’t mean to!” Anne screams, as her mother grabs her by her hair and slams her against the wall. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”_

_“Useless little bitch. Your apology won’t bring him back, will it? WILL IT?”_

“Anne, breathe! Anne, listen to me. Breathe!”

  _“No, momma,” Anne says, crying. “No.”_

_Anne endures every punch like she was taught to. Without a noise. Without a scream. Just take it and then when momma is finished, she’ll go upstairs and take some of the special pills in mommas cupboard and it’ll take the pain away._

_Except, this time the pain didn’t recede, because when woke up and her arm was hurting more than normal. Tears streamed down her face as she went to ask her momma for more pills, but when she goes to her momma's room, her momma isn’t there. Not anymore. Just a lifeless shell that Anne collapses at the sight of._

“Anne!”

Arms grab at her shoulders, and Anne panics. Her momma is angry, and she’s going to be punished. She killed her dad, and now she’s going to die for it.

“I’m sorry, Momma!” Anne screams, her eyes wide and unseeing. “I’m sorry!”

“Fuck, Anne, listen to me.”

That voice is familiar. Masculine. Not her mother.

“You’re in Avengers tower in New York. You’re safe. You’re here with Clint, Thor, JARVIS and myself. You’re safe.”

Sense dawns on her and she gasps on her tears as she sees them all staring at her in concerned horror. Anne’s knees buckle beneath her, and Tony catches her easily, carefully easing them both down onto the floor.

Anne cries into his shirt, her breath heaving and her head spinning. God, she just wants to forget everything, to never have to see those images again.

“I’m sorry, Tony,” she sobs. “Tell Pepper I’m sorry.”

“Oh, Anne, she’s not angry at you. Just me. I didn’t tell her, and she’s angry that I forged her signature.”

Anne feels worse because Tony made a decision without her, and now Pepper is going to die and it will be Anne’s fault, again. Always Anne’s fault. She always screws things up by just _existing._

“Hold the phone, Anne,” Tony says, trying to sound like he’s not freaking out. “Pepper wanted to do it together. She wanted to make a big deal out of it, maybe a party, maybe a family dinner. She isn’t angry that we’re adopting you, just that I didn’t allow her to make a fanfare.”

Anne is struggling to believe him, but he sounds so sincere and she _wants_ to think that it’s true.

“Tony, I’m… Anne? What’s wrong?”

Pepper’s voice startles Anne, and she tries to push Tony away, but his hands don’t relent.

“I’m sorry, Pepper,” she cries weakly.

“For Tony not letting me have a party? Don’t be ridiculous. I can organise one any time.”

Pepper isn’t hiding her panic, and that helps Anne a little. To know she’s not the only one having a bad time with this, but she feels guilty that they’re feeling like this because of her.

“Listen, I won’t have any child of mine sitting on the kitchen floor crying,” Pepper says, with authority. “Up. Both of you put some proper clothes on. Family dinner time.”

Anne looks up with watery eyes, and Pepper kneels down at her side and pulls her into a hug.

“We need to go shopping anyway,” she whispers. “Tomorrow though. And Tony can help carry the bags.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who reads this. Please let me know if you see any mistakes and if you want to see something happen in this fic that isn't a massive plot twist.


	12. Panic becomes you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are just a damn rollercoaster. Also, my plot plan is stretching out longer than I planned, so I'll probably end up with more chapters than I planned.

Anne is at a loss. One minute she’s having a severe panic attack on the floor of Mr Starks kitchen, and next, she’s sat in a fancy restaurant with her soon-to-be adopted parents. She hadn’t recognised anything on the menu, but Mr Stark took pity on her and asked the waiter to bring something that resembles a burger.

The waiter had looked ridiculously offended, but Mr Stark had promised a generous tip and that cleared up his sour expression quickly. Pepper chuckled into a napkin and Anne bowed her head to hide her smirk. Mr Stark had winked at her and then launched into a long, convoluted explanation about how he wants to create a course for MIT on how to create an AI, and also giving Anne personal tutorship so that she can pass with flying colours.

“I can help you to create your own before you leave if you want?”

Anne nods shyly. She feels incredibly out of place here, surrounded by people in their fancy clothes and with their mature food choices. And here she is with a chicken burger, fries and a large jumper and jeans. Next to Mr Starks designer suit and Peppers silk top and tight skirt, she practically feels like a street rat, which she knows all about.

“You’re being abnormally quiet. What’s wrong?”

Anne looks up at Mr Stark and realises belatedly that she’s been staring at the floor for a while.

“Sorry, Mr Stark, I was just thinking.”

“About AI’s, I hope.”

“Oh, absolutely, Mr Stark. I think about nothing else.”

Pepper smiles softly at her, and Anne ducks her head again. Pepper is like the perfect woman. Well put together, well dressed, with the greatest superhero in the world and able to control him to boot. Anne wouldn’t mind being able to grow up to be as mature as Pepper.

“Anne?”

Anne looks up again and smiles when she sees them both eyeing her with concern. She should be used to it by now, after spending so long around the Avengers. They all seem to care an unexpected amount. Anne isn’t sure if it’s because she’s not used to it, or if they just need someone to outlet all their emotions on.

“Does Mr Rogers live at the tower?” Anne asks. “Cause sometimes he’s just not in the tower at all.”

Pepper frowns sadly and takes a pointed drink of wine while Mr Stark tries to not look hurt. Anne immediately regrets asking, but she hadn’t realised it was a sore subject. She just assumed that Mr Rogers hadn’t wanted to move it. Obviously, she has looked past the obvious signs.

“Steve likes his apartment in Brooklyn,” Mr Stark says. “He’ll move in when he’s ready.”

Anne can see that the conversation needs to move on from there, but she’s not really proficient in the art of conversation. She doesn’t know what to say, or what to do, so she takes a bit of her burger and a drink of her soda and awkwardly fidgets.

“Thor thinks it’s bad that I haven’t had a beer yet,” she says, casually. “He says we should all drink beer together. Can we?”

Anne notices that Pepper seems strangely humoured by this, and he eyes light up with something Anne doesn’t recognise. Tony’s expression softens.

“No.”

“What?” Anne frowns. “Why?”

“Do you want the answer that involves the law or your health? You’re eight years away from legal drinking age and you’ve just had _invasive_ brain surgery. You’re not drinking anything alcoholic.”

“Not even beer?”

“When you make an AI, I’m going to add my own programme into it to stop you from drinking at college.”

“Were you sober at college?”

“No,” Pepper answers for him. “But Tony is not the best role model for how to behave in college. You won’t be drinking, taking drugs or anything that interferes with your education.”

Anne never thought about doing any of those things, but now that they’ve said that she can’t, she wants to. Not even for the sake of the effects. She’s not sure exactly why, but she probably will find out when she tries it.

“You know you’re going to be in special dorms when you get there?” Tony tells her, smugly. “For my first two years, I was forced to live in the part of the building closest to the professors. Rhodey was moved in after some… disagreements with his dorm mate. They’re pretty suffocating, just so you know. I only got to do what I did because I have a talent for slipping through fingers.”

“Whatever, I could if I wanted to,” she pouts.

“I’ll know. You know I’ll know.”

Anne shrugs, confident she’ll be able to work around it. Tony seems to know what she’s thinking and just raises a simple eyebrow. He’s clearly certain that all and any attempts will be stifled. Anne is ready for that particular challenge.

“Do you want to talk about your MIT interview?” Pepper asks, casually, as though it wasn’t the subject that had sent Anne running in the first place. “We can help you prepare for it if you want?”

Tony shoots Pepper a desperate look and then cautiously looks at Anne as though she’s about to disappear, Anne forces a vaguely calm look on her faces and prepares to start taking to the conversation in her stride.

“Do you want to do the interview?” Pepper asks.

“Yes.”

Pepper smiles, but Tony blinks in shock.

“Then… what?”

“I told you. I freaked out. I thought I was being offered all this stuff only for it to be taken away, and I knew I couldn’t accept it all because I wouldn’t survive it being taken away.”

“But now you think you can?”

Anne doesn’t reply, and she starts pulling at a loose threat on her jumper. The truth is that she’s not ready on her jumper. The truth is that she’s not ready to be sure of anything and is far too jaded to even be truly hopefully. Tony seems to understand this without her even vocalising it.

“You know, when you get your place at MIT, there’s nothing I can do, or would do, to take that away from you. You also will have gotten in on our own Merit, so even if I didn’t pay, you’d still have a place there. This is something that can’t be taken away from you.”

Anne nods.

“Ok.”

“OK? That’s it?”

“What more do you want from me?”

“Not if it hadn’t been for the fact that he was smiling, Anne would have thought for certain that he was genuinely angry at her. As it happens, he’s smiling and Pepper is shaking her head, feigning exasperation.

“When is the interview?”

“Three days away.”

“What do I need to do before then?”

“Shop for a new wardrobe, build your confidence and create a realistic backstory to explain away your lack of schooling.”

“OK, two of those things are necessary,” Anne tells him.

“Making up a backstory won’t be too hard we can tell them you were travelling until now. We could say you’re in A WPP. It’s endless.”

“That’s not what I was referring to and you know it. What makes you think I need to build confidence? I have so much it’s verging on being obnoxious.”

“Anne, who are you lying to here? Us or yourself?”

Anne scowls at him and takes a bite of food that allows her to ignore him. He chuckles and drinks some of his own soda, which makes Anne pause.

She looks around at the other people in the restaurant and notes how they’re all drinking wine or liquor out of as small glass. Why isn’t Mr Stark?

She’s thinking about it for a while before she remembers the articles she found about him. She’d done a lot of reading about him when she got out of Afghanistan. He used to have a serious drinking problem, but now she thinks of it, she hasn’t seen him drink the entire time she’s been there. It’s an incredible feat, and she realises that asking will just be rude.

Maybe that’s why he seemed to adamant on telling her not to when she gets to college. That’s enough incentive, she guesses, to respect his wishes. He probably doesn’t want her to fall down the same rabbit hole of addiction, because she also knows that it didn’t stop at alcohol.

“Thank you for dinner, Mr Stark and Ms Potts. I really appreciate it. Sorry, I didn’t want to try any of the normal menu food, but… look, I might have to make a policy that I don’t eat food if I can’t pronounce the name.”

“You’re missing out on a lot of good food there, kiddo,” Mr Starks says. “I can slowly help introduce you to the food if you want? Pepper has always liked my cooking.”

“Only because it gets you out of the lab for an extended period of time for a reason other than sleep and fighting.”

“You’re making me look bad, babes,” Mr Stark complains with an exaggerated pout. “I’m wounded.”

“You’ll heal,” Pepper jokes back. “Just in time to make us dinner for Thursday night. I have an entire day of meetings and an interview with Fox News. I’ll need something to look forward to.”

“You’re on,” Mr Stark promises. “And Anne, does your policy work if I don’t tell you what the food is called?”

“I guess not,” Anne shrugs.

“It’s a date then.”

“A date? I don’t want to intrude on anything,” Anne almost gushes.

“It’ll be a family date. Don’t worry,” Pepper soothes.

“And by that point, you’ll have had your interview, which is perfect. Less stress on everyone.”

“Excellent. It’s a plan then,” Pepper says.

~

 

Anne is sat in her room, reading a textbook on the dangers of artificial intelligence (despite JARVIS’ adamant refusal that there is any danger) when Pepper knocks on the door. It had been hours since they returned from the meal, but Anne was having trouble sleeping. Apparently, she’s not the only one.

“Anne, may I come in?”

Anne isn’t sure why she’s even asking since this is her tower as much as it is Tony’s, but she appreciates it. She shouts out a ‘yes’ and Pepper comes into the room and settles herself on the bed next to Anne.

Pepper’s hair is tied up in a knot on the top of her head, and she’s wearing pale pink silk pyjamas that Anne wants to feel. They look so smooth.

“I know it’s late, but would you mind it we talked?” Pepper asks, clearly hesitantly.

Anne nods, suspicious and worried. What if Pepper is going to ask her to leave? What if she thinks that Anne has taken way more than she should have, and should work to stark paying them back? She won’t deny her wishes either way, but she braces herself for how much it’s going to hurt when she does.

“You look worried, Anne. Don’t be worried.”

“I can’t help it. Normally when people want to ‘Talk’ it’s something serious and I’m not about that.”

Pepper laughs, a genuine laugh that depicts serious amusement. Anne doesn’t know if she should be offended or not. She decides against it when Pepper starts talking again.

“You’re so much like Tony, it’s incredible. It’s a miracle you two found each other. Though, maybe 'miracle' isn’t the right word.”

No. Miracle definitely isn’t the right word. Trauma is rarely a miracle, though she can see what Pepper is trying to get at. What are the chances of both of them surviving? What are the chances that they would survive the consequent years when more people than she can count have been driven insane by similar experiences? She doesn’t know herself how she managed to last this long, because she doesn’t think it’s something she’s cultivated herself. It must have been done in spite or something. She’s not had a reason to truly consider why she’s still alive, or why she still even wants to be. All of her best memories have happened in this tower in the past month and a bit. It’s sad.

“What did you want to talk about?” Anne asks, desperately trying to bat back the thoughts.

“I want to talk to you about your role here and Tony. JARVIS, do I have privacy?”

Pepper doesn’t look at the ceiling like Anne and the other Avengers do. Even Tony has been known to fall into that strange habit. They all know JARVIS isn’t on the ceiling. He’s everywhere. Pepper clearly has a better grasp on that than most.

“Yes, Ma’am. I will call blackout on this room until you request it to be lifted.”

“Thank you JARVIS.”

Pepper smiles wryly and takes a breath.

“I want you and myself to get to know each other better over the coming weeks. While I never had a say in any of this, I by no means find myself betting against it. I am willing to invest myself physically and emotionally in this adoption if you’ll let me. But I want to set up some… well, maybe some rules, of sorts?”

Anne doesn’t say anything. Her mind is still stuck on Pepper’s admission that she wants to be a part of this.

“I want you to know that you can tell us when you’re feeling uncomfortable and that we’ll respect that. You should feel comfortable here, and if anything we do cuts into that, you need to let us know. Is that OK?”

“Yeah.”

“Excellent. I also want to let you know that if you need to talk about anything, anything at all, you can call at any time. We’re both here for you, as well as the team. They all seem very heavily invested in you now, and I think we’ll all be good for each other. The team don’t have a lot of people they can call family, as far as I’m aware. I know you have a therapist coming in, but Tony told me that they won’t be around all that often, and so I wanted to extend that offer.”

“Ok. I’ll bare it in mind.”

“Good.”

Peppers eyes shine, and Anne can’t figure out if it’s with unshed tears or happiness. Or maybe both.

“Now, onto Tony.”

Anne sits up a little straighter at this.

“He’s… he wasn’t always like this. Before Afghanistan, he was kind of self-destructive, but after it got way worse. He almost died of palladium poisoning and didn’t tell anyone. He drove everyone he cares about away. He didn’t want us to know and he wanted to dampen the damage his death would do.”

Anne’s eyes widen. She thought she was bad, but that is pretty intense.

“Yeah, right?” Pepper says with a breathy laugh. “Anyway, I want you to know that when things get tough on him, he might try to push you away. You’re within your right to take a step back and limit the field of destruction, but just know that you shouldn’t take it seriously. He grew up to expect nothing from people. He was taught to build up an iron exterior, and not trust people.”

That makes sense to Anne. She didn’t grow up with money, but she’s been in the real world long enough to have read about how shamelessly people use each other. She can’t imagine what it’s like to grow up never knowing whether someone is your friend because of what benefits they could reap, or if it’s true friendship.

“That must have been tough,” Anne comments.

“Yeah, I think Rhodey was one of his first real friends. Both outcasts at the college, both looking for someone to see past the surface, both idiots at times.”

Anne laughs. She really liked Rhodey, regardless of how embarrassing their first meeting might have been. He clearly cares deeply about Tony, and considering the others in the tower, that is saying something. He cares beyond whatever personality Tony tries to project.

 “I just wanted to warn you. But I also want to thank you.”

“What the hell for?” Anne asks, a little more forceful than she intended.

“Because since you got here, Tony has been happier. He’s spent less time in his lab than ever before, he’s not struggling with not drinking, he’s smiling even when people aren’t looking. I haven’t seen him like this in a very long time, if ever. So, thank you.”

Anne doesn’t know what to say. She can’t take credit for that. There has to be some outside factor that neither of them is aware of that has changed Tony. Something else, other than a broken little girl who spent years being tortured and more years being hated. She’s been nought but a burden since she got there and is selfish enough to try and convince herself otherwise.

“Right, JARVIS, you can lift blackout. And Anne, hate to pull a ‘mom’ on you, but it’s almost two in the morning. You need to go to sleep and be ready for breakfast and eight tomorrow morning. I’ve taken the liberty of giving all my morning responsibilities to my PA so that you, myself and Tony can go shopping.”

Pepper leaves and Anne climbs into bed, staring at the dark ceiling in shock. Without meaning to, Anne feels a smile break out on her face. She’s excited about tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that.

 

~

Tony is woken up as Pepper climbs back in bed. She cuddles up to him, and he realises just how much he misses her warmth beside him. Between both of their responsibilities, they don’t have as much time to spend together. They both understand, but it doesn’t help. Thankfully, it doesn’t cause as much contention as it might do in ‘normal’ relationships.

Tony curls around her and nuzzles into her neck.

“Tony, that tickles,” she giggles, squirming in his arms.

Tony blows warm breath into her neck and she giggles louder.

“Love you, Tony.”

Tony stiffens briefly before settling again.

“Love you too.”

They fall asleep in each other’s embrace, with Tony smiling into her hair.

 

~

Tony wakes up again to Pepper nudging him.

“Ugh, I don’t wanna go to school today,” he whines.

“We’re going shopping, Tony. Anne needs some new clothes, and I don’t trust your fashion sense.”

“Rude,” Tony complains, opening his eyes slowly. “I wear some killer suits.”

“I bought all of them,” Pepper reminds him, as she tries to get out of bed, hindered by the tightening on Tony’s arms.

“Touche.”

“I need to shower,” she tells him, trying again to get out of his arms. “Let go.”

“Only if you let me shower with you,” he bargains.

“I’ll accept the compromise.”

 

~

 

“Morning,” Anne calls, as she heads onto Tony’s floor. “Uh, hello?”

There’s no one there, and after a quick check on the clock, she knows she’s neither late nor early. It’s bang-on eight in the morning. She looks around, but her efforts yield no results. She shrugs, figuring that they’re still sleeping, and moves to the coffee maker. She sets it going and climbs onto the counter to pull down three cups.

“Who the hell puts cups in a high cupboard?”

“Average height people,” Tony tells her as he comes into the kitchen.

“I’m average height!” Anne argues, turning to face him.

He looks flushed, red creeping up his face. His hair is wet and he’s wearing loose clothing. He’s also smiling brightly as he gratefully takes the cup Anne has offered him. Just as Anne is settling down at the island, Pepper joins them, dressed in one of Tony’s shirts and a pair of sleep pants. Her hair is also wet, and her face has a deep blush.

Anne tries not to think about why that is because it makes her feel uncomfortable. Gross.

“So, eggs and bacon for breakfast?” Tony asks as he pulls out plates, food and pans.

“Sounds good,” Anne replies, hands wrapped around the warm mug of coffee.

She spots Pepper looking at it disapprovingly, and Anne finds herself pulling it closer and leaning over it protectively. Pepper snorts indelicately at the show and shakes her head. She may or may not muttered something about Anne being ‘Tony through and through’ but she ignores it because it makes her feel funny inside.

“Ok, so I’ve made an itinerary for today,” Pepper announces. “We’ll start by going to a tailor. You need a suit of some description. We’ll also be able to use your measurements from there to get you some casual clothes. We’ll go to my favourite designer stores, and then get a light lunch at a café. After that, we’ll pick up your suit, and Tony needs his hair trimmed. We can stop at another store to buy you another wig if you want?”

Anne nods, thinking about all the different styles she could try out. She misses her hair, but she can use this time to figure out what she wants it to look like when it grows out again.

“Excellent. After that, we’ll go to some more stores, those aimed at teenagers, and you can pick out whatever you want. We’ll then go ‘back to school’ shopping and pick up whatever you need when you start college.”

“Isn’t that a little presumptuous?” Anne asks. “I don’t want to jinx it.”

“You’ll get in, Anne, I promise,” Tony says, over the sound of frying bacon. “You’re smart, and so are MIT. They wouldn’t let someone of your calibre slip through their fingers.”

Anne doesn’t want to call him a liar, but she still has her doubts. She decides to go along with it for now. Even if she doesn’t get in, she can use whatever they buy if she chooses to go to high school.

“After that, we’ll come back here and then I have to make sure my PA hasn’t had a breakdown. He’s a headstrong kid, but he can also be a little cocky.”

Anne nods.

“And then Anne and I can spend some quality time in my lab, building cool stuff and prepping for her interview.”

The day sounds exciting and terrifying in equal measure.

“Is that OK with you Anne?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Anne agrees.

At that moment, Clint comes bounding into the room. Despite his energetic entrance, Anne can see something is off. Maybe it’s the slight downward turn of his mouth or the obvious darkness beneath his eyes, Anne isn’t sure. She just knows that something is bothering him.

“Morning all,” he says, chirpily, as he sits next to Anne. “Breakfast?”

“Sure,” Tony sighs. “How do you like your eggs?”

 

~

 

Clint doesn’t leave when he finishes eating. He just talks and talks and talks, not revealing anything about what might be bothering him. Tony might be distracted most of the time, but after so long around Natasha, he’s learned to spot even the slightest shift in mood in people. And he can tell that something has happened.

“Where are you going?” Clint asks as he watches them all move to leave the kitchen.

“To get dressed,” Tony tells him.

“What are today's plans? I was thinking an ultimate Mario Kart tournament and maybe build a blanket fort. We can make smores and popcorn and –”

“I’m sorry, Clint, but we’re going shopping today,” Pepper tells him regretfully.

“Oh,” Clint mumbles, dejected, before perking up immediately. “I’ll come with!”

Before Tony can tell him that he was hoping to keep it a family exclusive, Clint has bounded out of the penthouse and into the stairwell.

“Dammit,” Tony complains.

“Let him come,” Pepper says, calmly. “He’s obviously lonely since Nat and Steve left. Besides, you can keep each other out of trouble while we’re shopping.”

“I wanted it to be just us,” Tony tells her. “You know. A little family.”

“Clint is always going to be the weird Uncle,” Pepper points out. “Might as well let him embrace the role.”

“Sure.”

“Alright, Mr Grumpy-pants. Let’s get ready before Clint grabs Anne as takes her on a mischief spree.”

“Good idea.”

Twenty minutes later, all four of them are in the elevator, riding it down to Tony’s private parking lot. Clint and Anne are animatedly discussing Lord Of The Rings, while Tony and Pepper are talking about SI’s newest product release.

“I don’t know why we can’t keep using your medical equipment under the SI banner,” Pepper complains, with the air of someone who is revisiting a tired subject. “That always put our stock up.”

“Tony stopped making it,” Clint interjects. “He’d already established his ‘generous billionaire’ persona’. Got bored of the public gratitude.”

Pepper laughs at him, and there’s a family distinct cruel edge to it, and edge that escapes no-one’s attention. Anne and Clint both look at her, bewildered, while Tony glares at her, his eyes saying more than he seems able to say.

“Tony never stopped making it,” Pepper tells him. “He just started releasing it anonymously. I’ve been trying to get him to tell me why, but I guess I have my answer now.”

Awkwardness weighs down on them for a matter of seconds, broken only by Happy, who is stood by the side of the car, waving.

“Happy, what’re you doing here?” Tony asks, grinning as they hug. “I asked for one of my new regular drivers.”

“I wanted to meet my new niece!”

All eyes turn to Anne, who blushes red and fidgets with the cuff of her jumper.

“Anne, meet Happy Hogan, the man who was my bodyguard until he was laughed out of the job.”

Anne shakily accepts the man's outstretched hand but screams as she’s pulled into an unexpected hug. Happy panics and releases immediately, looking guiltily between Anne, Tony and Pepper.

“Sorry, I get a little weird about… contact,” Anne says, red with shame.

“That’s my bad,” Happy replies. “I’ve been told off for my surprise hugs before.”

“He’ll learn one day,” Tony laughs, clapping Happy on the shoulder. “No harm was done.”

“Are we going shopping or are we standing around and hugging?” Clint whines.

“Ok, children, in the car,” Pepper says as she saunters to the front seat. “Shotgun.”

Tony and Clint both groan in displeasure and Anne snickers at them. She climbs into the middle and she’s bracketed by Clint and Tony, who continue to grumble, though they’re smiling, so Anne knows they’re not actually angry.

The drive is anything but quiet. Between the loud ACDC music, Tony and Clint’s pointless bickering and Happy’s humming, there isn’t a second of silence.

Pepper and Anne, the only two not adding to the concert of chaos, lock eyes in the rear-view mirror. Pepper smiles warmly and Anne smiles back, almost overwhelmed by how visceral the love in them feels.

“We’re almost there,” Pepper informs during a quiet spell. “I guess with Happy around, I can trust that we’re not going to risk Tony and Clint getting into trouble.”

“We’re not children, Pep,” Tony frowns.

“Wrong. Tasha once took Clint to a mall and he got kicked out for playing on an escalator, and I believe you, Tony, have already admitted to being a toddler.”

Tony and Clint both cross their arms at the same time and glare at the floor.

“I’ll watch the kids, don’t worry,” Happy promises. “You girls will have a stress-free shop.”

Both Anne and Pepper are overly thankful in their responses, successfully making Tony and Clint amp up their faux annoyance. By the time they reach their destination, everyone is in high spirits, almost like it was any other day with a normal family.

“First, the tailors.”

Together they walked into a dark, pleasant smelling store. An elderly man greeted them and looked upon Anne's outfit with a disparaging amount of despair. Anne slunk behind Pepper, who fixed the attendant with such a sharp glare that he truly didn’t stand a chance.

“Happy, keep the boys in line, will you?”

Happy nods, and with a hand on both men’s shoulders, he steers them into a small waiting room. Anne finds it hilarious that he’s a civilian who is manhandling two bona-fide superheroes.

Pepper taps Anne casually on the shoulder and gently guides her towards a charging room. She’s made to stand up on a stool, and a woman comes behind the curtain and smiles warmly at Anne.

“Ms Potts tells me this is your first time?”

Anne nods.

“Ok, it’s nothing too scary, don’t worry. We’ll have you set up and ready soon,” the woman says, unwinding a tape from her neck and motioning for Anne to spread her arms. “Take your jumper off, please.”

Anne nods shakily, and together, with Pepper’s comforting Anne when she clearly shows she’s uncomfortable. Pepper, Anne is realising, is magic. She can make everyone feel better, and scare people who risk meeting her wrath. She’s perfect for the job of CEO.

Anne can’t help but get excited when Pepper starts to talk almost feverishly about designers and brands that Anne has never heard of. Tony and Clint hang back from the group, bickering amicably and Happy walks closer to Anne and Pepper, their ever-present bodyguard.

Something about the day feels like it’s going to be a good day.

 

~

 

"Let's try the wigs on," Pepper encourages, leading Anne away from Tony, who is arguing with the barber and Clint, who is encouraging him. "We'll find the perfect one."

Anne isn't sure. She doesn't mind the blonde one. It doesn't super feel like her, but she's sure she'll get used to it. And if she doesn't, hair doesn't take that long to grow, does it? Pepper leads her into a room with a female assistant, and Anne stares at all the wigs.

"There's like, a million here," Anne exclaims.

"Three hundred and fourteen," the assistant says proudly. "Shall we start at the silver grey and work our way over to midnight black?"

Anne allows Pepper to answer for her and then sits in a chair as they two women have the time of their lives putting wigs on her and politely deciding which ones do and don't work for her. Anne doesn't bother looking in the mirror, because she's never been known for her fashion choices. Pepper knows her stuff, and it's obvious that the female assistant does too. Anne allows her mind to wonder as she plays doll head, paying little attention to the two women. It's not until the chair is spun around unexpectedly that she falls back into her surroundings.

"Oh my god."

Anne can't believe it. Not only does the hair look natural, but its gorgeous and looks  _perfect._

It's chestnut brown and curled, whereas her old hair had a very distinct lank look about it. This hair is full and shiny, but her old hair was dry and thin. She feels... new. She feels almost whole. 

"Anne, you look beautiful," Pepper tells her. "Do you like it?"

"I love it."


	13. We don't talk about Siri here

"Let's try the wigs on," Pepper encourages, leading Anne away from Tony, who is arguing with the barber and Clint, who is encouraging him. "We'll find the perfect one."

Anne isn't sure. She doesn't mind the blonde one. It doesn't super feel like her, but she's sure she'll get used to it. And if she doesn't, hair doesn't take that long to grow, does it? Pepper leads her into a room with a female assistant, and Anne stares at all the wigs.

"There's like, a million here," Anne exclaims.

"Three hundred and fourteen," the assistant says proudly. "Shall we start at the silver grey and work our way over to midnight black?"

Anne allows Pepper to answer for her and then sits in a chair as they two women have the time of their lives putting wigs on her and politely deciding which ones do and don't work for her. Anne doesn't bother looking in the mirror, because she's never been known for her fashion choices. Pepper knows her stuff, and it's obvious that the female assistant does too. Anne allows her mind to wonder as she plays the part of a doll head, paying little attention to the two women. It's not until the chair is spun around unexpectedly that she falls back into her surroundings.

"Oh my god."

Anne can't believe it. Not only does the hair look natural, but it’s gorgeous and looks  _perfect._

It's chestnut brown and curled, whereas her old hair had a very distinct lank look about it. This hair is full and shiny, but her old hair was dry and thin. She feels... new. She feels almost whole. 

"Anne, you look beautiful," Pepper tells her. "Do you like it?"

"I love it."

~

Anne is feeling decidedly tired and exhausted after a long day of shopping. They’re all in the car, in various degrees of tired silence. Tony and Clint are still bickering about who would look best in Anne’s new wig, Pepper is whispering to Happy about the need for security passes, and Anne has her head back on the seat, trying with all her might to not fall asleep.

When they reach the tower, Pepper invites Happy up to have dinner with them, which Clint had offered to cook. Anne thinks he’s offering because he feels guilty about making an assumption about Tony’s motivation to produce and donate equipment to hospitals. Anne thinks he should feel guilty because it was unduly cruel of him to think so little of Tony in the first place, but maybe this will be enough to end the harsh jokes at Tony’s expense.

Anne knows she could come around to forgive him eventually, but from the way Pepper has been looking at him all day, she doesn’t think the same courtesy will be extended there. Clint will have to do more than accept the truth to earn his way back into Pepper’s good graces. Anne wonders if it’s weird that she considers that to be awesome. It shows just how loyal Pepper is to Tony.

They all make their way up the penthouse as JARVIS updates Tony on the day's events and current inhabitants of the tower. When the elevator stops, Pepper rushes into their bedroom and Clint leads them all into the kitchen.

“I’m making surprise food for everyone, so no complaining,” Clint warns.

“Do you need help?” Anne offers.

“Nah, you just sit back and relax.”

“We can use this time to get to know each other,” Happy suggests, sitting down in the lounge.

Anne looks over at Tony, who nods and smiles encouragingly. Anne hasn’t had a lot of social interactions with people who aren’t the Avengers, and when she has, one of the Avengers or Pepper has been at her side. She desperately wants Tony to sit with her, but the man is already preoccupied with annoying Clint.

Anne tried not to allow her reluctance to go show so transparently. Happy is obviously one of Mr Starks friends, another loyal person she can trust not to hurt herself of Tony. Despite this, he is still a stranger. It was one thing being in a car with him, but it’s a whole other thing to be alone on the sofa with him staring at her.

“You’re nervous,” he tells her. “I can tell.”

“Sorry,” Anne mumbles.

Happy shouldn’t look so sad, but her discomfort is obviously upsetting him and she feels terrible about it. It’s not his fault. It’s hers for being so stupid.

“You’re alright, Kid. I’m harmless. Well, not really. I’m practically a boxing champion so I could probably take down everyone in this room, but I promise I won’t hurt you.”

Anne should feel safer at this proclamation, but she’s had too many people lie to her about how ‘safe’ she is. She can’t seem to let her guard down just yet.

“Anne, I have to go, but I’ll definitely see you before your interview,” Pepper says as she appears in the lounge.

She presses a kiss onto the top of Tony’s head and then moves into the kitchen, where she tells Tony she loves him and completely ignores Clint, who jokes about wanting a kiss too.

“I haven’t seen Tony look so content in a while. Even Pepper seems to be calmer now, which considering her job, is quite the feat.”

Anne looks at him, wondering what he’s talking about. Pepper had said last night that Anne was having positive effects on Tony, but she is already finding it harder to believe. The idea that she’s having any kind of positive effect on Pepper is laughable.

“They never wanted children, you know,” Happy tells her. “Was never really in the books for them. They’re both too busy to care for a baby, and Tony refuses to have a child if he can’t dedicate himself to it full-time.”

“So, they don’t really want me?”

“No, that’s not it at all. What I mean to say is that you’re perfect for them. You’re old enough to understand that they can’t be there all day and young enough that they can still have a positive impact on your remaining childhood.”

Anne stares at him, her eyebrow raised and waits for him to admit that he’s just being nice to make her like him. The act itself makes her incapable of trusting him, which means she definitely doesn’t like him at all.

“You don’t believe me, and that’s fine. You didn’t see what they were like before you got here. You should trust me though. I’m sure JARVIS has more than enough evidence to prove my point for me.”

“Indeed,” Jarvis agrees.

“Hey!” Tony calls, looking over from the kitchen. “You better not be conspiring against me with my own butler.”

Anne snickers into her hand as Happy begins to deny the accusation with JARVIS unconvincingly joining in. Tony engages in a lengthy and over-dramatic debate with Happy about his moral standing as both a security expert and a trusted friend.

As predicted, Anne feels far more comfortable now that Tony is within her sights. She happily listens to them argue until Clint calls them to the kitchen.

“Clint, you know that if whatever you’re feeding us kills us, you’ll be sued until you can’t afford the clothes on your back, right?” Tony threatens jovially.

“You’d be dead. No proof.”

“I assure you I would see to it that the appropriate action is taken should any harm come to Sir,” Jarvis promises.

Clint doesn’t miss the undertone of severity, though it’s mostly blanketed with a joking tone. Anne looks from Clint to Tony with a small smirk. Tony looks furiously embarrassed at the blatant show of protectiveness and Clint looks genuinely worried. She’s not surprised. He may be an assassin with incredible skills, but there’s only so much someone can do to a sentient AI, especially when you don’t have the computer knowledge that Tony does.

“What is this?” Anne asks, looking at the food curiously.

“It’s ‘toad in the hole’,” Clint explains, cutting into his own piece. “It’s awesome. Give it a go.”

Anne figures that while it looks unusual, it smells awesome and she can pronounce the name, so it doesn’t fall into her new policy of eating any food she’s unfamiliar with.

“Jesus, Clint, this is good,” Tony moans through a mouthful.

Clint beams at the compliment, and so Anne takes a bite and reacts the same way. Happy soon follows, and soon, they’re all too busy eating to talk.

“Where are Steve and Natasha?” she asks, once she’s finished.

“Still on a mission,” Clint says, shoulders slumping. “Something is happening, but I’m not sure what it is.”

Tony and Happy both seem uneasy with this proclamation, and Anne wonders if Clint has some sort of sixth sense that they all instinctively trust. It’s the only logical conclusion she can come to about why they’re all suddenly ruining the previously easy-going mood they had just seconds ago.

“JARVIS,” Tony says. “Is there anything going on that we should know about?”

“I’m unable to get into the SHIELD servers,” JARVIS admits, which causes Tony’s eyes to widen.

“What?”

“You hack into SHIELD?” Clint asks, disapprovingly. “Fury is gonna be pissed.”

Tony ignores Clint’s complaining and quickly rushes from the kitchen. After a second, Clint follows and then it’s just Happy and Anne. Happy looks conflicted, eyes darting between the elevator and Anne.

“I’m capable of looking after myself, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Anne tells him, exasperated. “You can go do your ninja stuff.”

Happy nods, relieved, and he leaves a second later. Anne, now alone and already bored, moves over to the sofa and turns the TV on. There doesn’t seem to be a lot going on, but Anne figures that if she wants to see if what Happy says is true, then she needs to do some research.

“Mr Jarvis, you have footage of every Iron Man battle, don’t you?”

Without a response (Anne assumes he’s busy helping Tony), the TV comes on, split into four sections. It starts to play, and Anne watches in amazement as Iron Man flies into Afghanistan and shoots down her old captors. She doesn’t mean to feel a rush of gratitude when she watches their bodies hit the floor, but it comes with a wave of nausea so she figures she’s not sadistic.

She can see the house that she was locked in. She can see the dirty door, and half destroyed curtains. She was inside of there while this whole thing was unfolding. It’s so strange to know that she and Tony were feet away, and he had no idea she was even alive, let alone locked in a small closet fearing for her life.

The video changes over to him fighting numerous battles until they get to the infamous battle of New York. She remembers it well. She was hiding in a diner, under a table. She’d been hiding from some men who had been searching for her, but she’d stayed when the battle had gone underway. She remembers feeling alone and terrified, and the noises of gunfire had sent her into a panic attack.

Thankfully, one of the waitresses, a young woman, had darted from her spot under the counter to Anne’s side and talked her through it. They spent the last few hours of it in each other’s arms, comforting one another. Anne feels like it was a million years ago now.

The videos play on and on until the day that Tony had challenged the Mandarin. She’d been out of state during that time, and away from a television. She’d heard about it when the men that she was with had talked about it briefly, but she’d hardly listened. She’d actually blocked most of that time from her memory.

She watches in anticipation. A helicopter is hovering over his Malibu mansion, and Tony can be seen in the windows, pacing. Anne knows he won’t be alone for long, because the Avengers will be there, but she still feels scared for him.

Something is going on inside of the house, but Anne can’t see who or what has entered the situation. She hadn’t seen the Quinjet, so maybe not the Avengers, but hopefully someone to drag Tony away.

And then… a missile is thrown at the house, and it explodes. Anne’s breath catches in her throat, and she stares in horror as an iron man suit is flown out of the front of the house, and another one sinks beneath the water with the rubble of house falling with it.

“Where are the team?” Anne screams at the screen.

She knows Tony is safe, she knows he made it out alive, but to watch him disappear beneath the waves is sending her into a fit of panic. The newscaster is delightedly telling the audience that they may have just witnessed the downfall of Iron Man, and she’s waiting. She’s waiting to watch Tony rise above the chaos like an angel of death, but it doesn’t happen. And the team don’t show up either.

“Stop!” Anne screams, and the TV shuts off immediately. “Holy shit.”

She falls against the sofa and brings her knees to her chest. She can’t stop the sobs from breaking out. Again, she knows Tony came away from that with his life intact, but she can’t understand how it led to that. Where was Steve? Natasha, Clint, Bruce? Why didn’t they help?

“Anne, what’s going on?”

Tony rushes into the room with Clint on his tail. Happy is nowhere to be seen, so she guesses that he’s returned to SI to assist Pepper and enforce security badges on everyone who steps foot into the building.

“I… I was being nosey,” Anne sniffles, pointing lazily at the TV. “I watched all your battles, from the first one in Afganistan to the Mandarin.”

Tony’s face loses all emotion, and he stares blankly at her. Anne can’t tell if it’s his way of hiding his anger, but she’s too pent up to focus on that.

“I was waiting for everyone to come and help you when the mansion was attacked, but… where were they?”

Tony still looks impassive, but Clint shuffles from foot to foot awkwardly.

“We were all on missions. We didn’t hear about it until we came back.”

Tony nods, as though this is enough of an excuse, but Anne isn’t convinced.

“Bruce too?”

“Anne, this is all in the past. No one has to fight my battles for me. I’m a big boy now.”

Clint looks stunned by this and grimaces.

“Jesus Tony, no. We’re here for each other, no matter what.”

Tony laughs, an empty haunting sound. Anne feels suddenly defensive. She’s heard that laugh before. She’s heard the emptiness of emotion in the sounds of men who feel guilty about what they’ve done, but allow themselves to keep going. She’s heard it in their forced responses when she’s begged them to stop, demanded to know why.

Tony turns on his heel and leaves, and Clint and Anne are left staring after him.

“Mr Jarvis?”

“Yes, young miss?”

Anne had expected, maybe even hoped, that JARVIS would be angry with her, but he sounds sympathetic if anything. As if he doesn’t blame her for doing that to Tony. But he should. She feels dangerously guilty.

“Don’t you dare think about trying to leave again,” Clint says, as he throws himself down on the sofa next to her. “That’s on us. We should have gone to help.”

“You were on a mission,” Anne says, lamely.

“Yeah, but we should have ditched and gone to him as soon as he rattled off his damn address to the news.”

Anne can hear the regret in his voice, but also something else. Like, she knows that something else is going on his head. Maybe he’s annoyed too. Angry, even. Or maybe it’s something else.

“I can’t believe no one went to help Tony,” Anne says, feeling bad, but unable to stop herself. “I can’t imagine how he must have felt. Do you think he was expecting you to come and help?”

Clint sighs and sinks further into the sofa. Anne knows that he’s not luxuriating in it, but rather trying to hide away from a difficult question.

“Honestly? I think, had it happened a few months earlier, he wouldn’t have. He’d have to face it on his own, and wouldn’t have. He’d have faced it on his own, and would never have entertained the idea of not being alone. That is what makes it worse, you know? When the Avengers became a ‘thing’, we spoke a lot, even after we parted ways. I think… it’s going to sound worse when I say this aloud, but I think he got comfortable with the idea that we were a team and…”

“Yeah, that sounds awful. Mr Jarvis?” Anne turns her attention away from Clint. “Is Mr Stark OK?”

“Sir is fine. He is currently trying to locate Mr Rogers and Ms Romanoff…”

The sound cuts off and the TV turns on. Anne and Clint both startle and then stare at the screen in shock and horror.

“What is going on?” Anne asks as they watch Steve fighting with someone in a mask, and some man with wings circling the area.

“I’ve got to go, Fury will –”

“Fury is dead.”

Clint and Anne both turn to face Tony, who is coming out of the elevator.

“The Winter Soldier killed him,” Tony explains, looking pale. “I think that’s who Steve is fighting now. Should we…”

Clint and Tony both face the TV, uncertainly. They’re clearly trying to decide if they should go to help when the scene on the screen shows Steve falling from the fight and landing in the water.

Silence.

No one moves.

And then, without a word said between them, Clint and Tony run from the room. Anne stares after them and turns back to the TV. Steve still hasn’t emerged from the water, and the man with the wings is nowhere to be seen.

“Is Mr Rogers dead?” Anne asks, frightened. “He… was that man with the mask The Winter Soldier?”

“I believe so. I do not think you should continue to watch.”

“You put it on!” Anne shouts, accusingly.

“So that Mr Barton and Sir could see.”

Anne frowns, but shrugs. The TV instantly turns off and Anne decides that if she wants to avoid feeling too nervous about this, she needs to distract herself and wait for news from Mr Stark or Mr Jarvis.

Anne goes to her room and sits down at her desk. She picks up where she left off and starts to research more on creating an AI, and alternative starts making a plan to design a robot. She’s not sure if she wants something that looks like DUM-E or U or Butterfingers, but she figures that she’ll know what she wants at some point.

Hours pass, and Anne doesn’t hear from anyone. She’s quite content swimming deep on the internet, filling her mind with information rather than questions about whether Steve is alive, and whether the others are safe.

She’s not sure exactly who Fury is, but she’s certain that he’s someone important. Things are changing already, and she’s not even settled in properly. She’s worried about how she’s going to fit in with it all, and she’s still confused about why Steve doesn’t live in the tower with everyone else. Maybe he’ll move in now? And Thor. She hasn’t seen him since the night he brought her back. She doesn’t know if he’s gone back to his home, or if he’s backpacking.

Anne amuses herself for a few minutes imagining Thor sleeping on a crappy hostel bed and getting a train across Europe with college-age students. He actually doesn’t look that far off being a student, but his intense size and boisterous personality set him at odds.

“Mr Jarvis, is everyone OK?”

“I’m afraid I don’t have any information to share. Would you like me to create a test on all of the information you’ve learned?”

Anne can tell that he’s trying to offer her a distraction, and she’s grateful for it. Seconds after Anne agrees to it, a file appears on the computer screen, and Anne throws herself into the test, pride replacing worry as she realises she knows everything.

~

Anne has her interview in several hours, and she’s been sat with Pepper for the last thirty minutes, talking about what to say and what not to say. Tony had had Jarvis relay an apology for being late and a promise that he’ll be up in ten minutes.

“It goes without saying that you shouldn’t mention the details of your… detainment in Afghanistan,” Pepper tells her, as she sets out the suit that they had picked up when they went shopping.

“I wasn’t intending to bring that up,” Anne promises. “But I’m not sure how I’m supposed to avoid the subject of my schooling.”

“Tony has that all figured out. He’ll explain when he gets here. OK, what are you going to tell them about how you’ve kept up your education in absence of the traditional methods?”

“Uh, I guess I should stick to my work on computers since I was seven. I guess I’ll just have to make something up about what kinds of things I was working on. My AI project is going well, so I think I can put most of my focus on that.”

“That’s a good idea. Tony is compiling a list of your skills, but the school are going to want to see your GED results when you finish it, and I think you’ll be made to take another test for them to prove that your lack of school isn’t going to be a hindrance.”

The more they talk about it, the more nervous she gets. It doesn’t help that the wig is really starting to irritate her. It itches far more than it did at the beginning. Pepper noticed, and sympathetically explained that it gets worse as her hair grows. It’s just getting past the point of stubble now, and she just wishes the whole thing could be over with.

“Go shower. You won’t win any points with the interviewer if you smell.”

Anne laughs and jogs into the bathroom and makes quick work of showering. Once she’s dried off, she puts the suit on that Pepper had left out on her bed, and then makes her way into the lounge again as she adjusts the wig.

“Oh, wow, you’re looking extremely professional,” Tony comments, admiringly.

“I scrub up well, considering that I normally dress like a street urchin,” Anne agrees, grinning.

“Would you mind if I did your makeup?” Pepper asks. “Tony will go through all the details of the interview while I go for it.”

“I’ve never worn make-up before,” Anne admits, shrugging.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Pepper promises. “I just thought it might be nice for you. You can say no if you’re not comfortable. Do you want to?”

“Yeah, I do!” Anne says, in a rush.

She doesn’t want to turn down any offers that these two give her, and she knows from her limited exposure to media, that doing each other’s hair and make-up is a great bonding experience. She wants to get to know Pepper better, and this is one of those rare occasions in which she’s free. SI takes up a lot of her time.

Pepper laughs and goes out of the room, presumably to get the makeup. Tony is sat on a lone armchair with a Stark-pad on his lap. He’s concentrating on something, but when he notices Anne looking at him, he smiles at her.

“So, I’ve manufactured some paperwork to make-up for your elusive past. You are now the grand owner of a series of years abroad, getting an education from the world. You lived with host families in Europe, Asia, and Oceania. You did all of your schooling with them, and everyone you stayed with was a professional in some field or another. I called in a _lot_ of favours for that one, so if they were to call, they’d get validation.”

Anne isn’t sure what to say, because she’s shocked. Every time Tony does something for her, it’s far bigger than what she expected. She’s can’t begin to imagine how difficult it was to fabricate such an extensive cover story, and she’s grateful and can’t even vocalise it.

Pepper comes back through a second later and settles herself down next to Anne. She takes Anne's arm and swathes a few different tones of foundation on it. She allows it to happen, though she watches on in wonder. Pepper sets one tub to the side and then starts to apply other things to her face.

“We’re going to go with a natural look, and I’m going to try my best to make you look just a little older. It’s imperative that they _don’t_ see you as a child, and I hate to say it, but you look incredibly young. They’ll be reluctant to take you on if they view you as a kid.”

Anne isn’t able to nod because he face is help in Pepper’s fingers. She just hums her understanding, and Tony continues to talk.

“OK, so I’m putting you down for having work experience at SI, and I’ll set it up so that you can slowly build up real experience. Your GED exams are next week, had to pull some serious strings there, and I’ve got a vetted tutor coming in to help you study. Is there anything you think you’re going to struggle with?”

Anne shrugs.

“OK, understandable, we’ll approach that problem when we get there. If you feel like you’re excelling in one topic but need extra help with another, tell me and I’ll shift around your schedule. You’re going to be quite busy over the next few weeks, is that alright with you?”

Anne nods, and Pepper tuts and uses a tissue to wipe away some smudged make-up. Tony laughs and then finishes up explaining himself. By the time Pepper has finished setting her up, Anne is inundated with ideas and only thirty more minutes until the interviewer arrives.

“We’re going to be with you in the interview, and if you feel overwhelmed, you tell us straight away, OK?”

“Of course,” Anne lies.

If she ducks out of an interview, they’d never let her in, and she refuses to let that happen. Mr Stark and Ms Potts have both worked far too hard for this to fall apart just because she might get uncomfortable.

Tony and Pepper both seem to buy her lie, and she feels crazy guilty about it, but she allows herself to settle on the idea that it’s actually better for them all if she gets in, regardless of whether she gets a bit antsy in the interview.

They go over her past story to make sure that they have everything organised and understood. When they have ten minutes to go, Anne, Tony, and Pepper all go to the meeting room and wait for the interviewer to show up.

Tony and Pepper sit on the chairs behind her, and the interviewer comes in. He’s old, with grey hair and a soft, tweet suit. Anne wonders if he’s going for the professor look on purpose, or if he’s doing it ironically.

“Mr Stark, a pleasure to see you again,” he says, shaking Tony’s hand. “Ms Potts.”

Anne watches as the man lowers himself into the chair opposite her and extends a hand to her too. She does what Mr Stark had told her to do. She shakes his hand with a tight grip, and then let’s go hastily. She settles back in the chair and folds her hands on her lap.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Miss Aldridge. Mr Stark has spoken very highly of you, and there aren’t many people I know that he would call, and I quote, ‘possibly smarter than myself’.”

Anne looks back at Mr Stark, shocked. He doesn’t really think that, does he? Sure, she’s a whiz at computers, but this is the man who inherited a multibillion-dollar company and built the Iron Man suit in impossible circumstances, and he thinks Anne is almost on his level?

“I see you have far less confidence in he did, though. When I taught the young Mr Stark, he was caught between an awkward fourteen-year-old boy and overly confident teenager.”

Anne laughs nervously, not sure how she’s supposed to respond to that.

“I was coming into myself,” Tony defends, though he’s smiling. “I was just going through puberty.”

The interviewer laughs, and it’s that that helps Anne see him as being more human that man who is intent on scaring the wits out of her.

“OK, so we don’t have anything on file about your past academic achievements,” the man says, looking at Anne expectantly.

“I wasn’t given a traditional education. I grew up in foster care and when I was five, I was sent to live with a family in Germany, where I lived until I was seven. I then moved to South Korea for two years, Australia for one year, England of half a year, Russia for five months, Hong Kong for six months and then finally South America for a year. They were all very highly regarded members of their fields. Mr Stark has the list and dates. I learnt a lot while I was with them, while also seeing a tutor for ten hours a week for the primary subjects.”

“That’s unique. I don’t know if any of our students have ever had such a wide range of experience. I see you also haven’t completed your GED?”

“Not yet, but I’ll be doing that next week. I’m also going to be interning with SI to learn more about the business and R&D side of the world.”

“That’s an excellent experience,” the man says.

“She’ll be under our direct tutorship,” Pepper intervenes. “We want to give her as much experience as possible with all aspects of SI so that she’ll have both the skills and knowledge to apply in the future.”

“That will look excellent on her application,” the man nods, thoughtfully. “Do you have any projects that you’re particularly proud of?”

“I’m working on making an AI,” Anne tells him, trying to keep the crazy enthusiasm to the minimum. “I’ve still got a lot to learn about them, and I’m working hard to make sure it’s not going to take over the world, but I think it’d be nice to –”

“My dear child,” the man says, heavily condescending. “The best you can hope to gain from an AI is a Siri, and unfortunately the tools simply aren’t available to create anything better.”

Anne almost chokes on her denial, but she doesn’t need to come at him with that, because Mr Stark jumps in with a barked laugh and a cocked eyebrow.

“I remember you telling me the same thing, but JARVIS would beg to differ.”

“Who is JARVIS?” the man asks.

“I am Sir’s AI,” JARVIS replies, and Anne grins at the sound of snark in his voice. “And I can guarantee, Mr Beck, that my abilities far surpass that on Siri.”

“We don’t talk about Siri,” Tony pipes. “They’re a source of contention around here.”

“I see,” Mr Beck says, looking vaguely alarmed. “I see you took my criticism and used it as a motivational force for proving me wrong.”

Tony’s expression sours immediately, and Anne is worried about what he might say if he allows his clear dislike of the man to interfere with his reason.

“So, I want to attempt to build someone of Mr Jarvis’ calibre,” Anne says, trying to pull the conversation back. “And I’m interested in robotics too.”

“Well, it’ll certainly look interesting on your application. Do you have any questions for me?”

Anne doesn’t, and within minutes the man has left. Anne doesn’t feel like it lasted nearly as long as it should have, and she wonders if that’s to do with the awkwardness they all suddenly felt. Mr Beck definitely ruined her chances of getting into MIT, and she is angry at him. Anne puts her head in her hands and tries to restrain her scream.

“Yeah, you and me both, kid,” Tony says, almost casually. “Don’t worry, he’s not going to let his ignorance affect your chances, I promise.”

Anne wants to believe him, of course, she does, but it doesn’t work that way. She’s almost certain that she’s never going to see the inside of a college now. That sucks, and she won’t cry about it, she won’t.

“Anne, come here,” Pepper says, opening her arms.

Anne almost throws herself off the chair and into Peppers' arms. She is hugged tightly, and Tony obviously joins in because she can feel his arm around her too. She feels better, somehow, and she’s not sure if hugs are scientifically proven to improve things, but they do.

“How about we eat ice cream in our pyjamas and watch some girlie movies?” Pepper suggests.

“Only if we get mint chocolate chip,” Tony bargains.

Anne giggles and allows herself to be guided away and into the lounge in the penthouse. She then spends an unexpectedly pleasant evening with Tony and Pepper, watching Mean Girls and eating more ice-cream than should be legal.


	14. What do you want in return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Winter Soldier is out to play, that's what all the children say.

Anne wakes up the next morning in her bed, despite not remembering how she got there. She’s sure she passed out on the sofa after one too many scoops of mint ice-cream. She groans as she stretches out on her bed, squeaking when she goes limp again.

“Morning Mr Jarvis,” she says.

“Morning, young miss.”

Anne smiles and lets her eyes stay closed a little longer. The interview might not have gone well, but last night she had had a really nice time. She got to watch a weird movie about high school, which definitely makes her realise that she doesn’t want to go at all, if ever, but she also got to spend time with her new family.

It was new. It was _nice._

“Mr Jarvis, is there any news on Steve and Natasha?”

“Unfortunately, not. Any further information we have is classified.”

“I’ll just ask Mr Stark,” she mutters, as she climbs out of bed.

She quickly dresses, putting on a large, purple hooded jumper, one that Clint had picked out while they were shopping, and she pairs it with some lose jeans. She brushes her hair and pulls it into a tight ponytail and then makes her way out and into the lounge.

“Mr Jarvis, where is Mr Stark?”

“I’m here, I’m here,” Tony says, appearing from his bedroom.

His hair is a mess, and his cheeks are flushed, and Anne looks away. She doesn’t want to think about what he and Pepper were going. Pepper appears a few minutes later, looking similar, and Tony has already started to make breakfast.

“Eggs and bacon good for everyone?”

Anne scrunches up her face. If she keeps eating like this, she’s gonna put so much weight on. She knows she’s underweight right now, but she doesn’t want to get a taste for it when she reaches a healthy size.

“Yeah, but do you have any fruit?”

“Of course,” Pepper says, kissing Anne on top of her head. “What do you want?”

“I dunno. An apple?”

Pepper pours them all coffee and then grabs an apple from the fridge.

“I’m glad I’m not the only one who cares about nutrition,” Pepper jokes, poking Tony in the side.

He shouts, laughing and jumping away from her. Pepper moves towards the island and hands Anne her coffee and apple. They sit, talking about the movie until Tony joins them.

“So, how about you have your first day at SI next week? Pepper will take you down in the morning and you can ghost her while she’s working. Then, because she has the afternoon of meetings, which are boring and need to be avoided at all costs, you’ll come with me and we’ll tour the R&D department and meet my staff.”

“Awesome,” Anne agrees.

“Tony, you can’t tell her meetings are boring. They’re necessary!”

“That shouldn’t be synonymous with boring, but every ‘necessary’ meeting you have is dull and makes me was to jump out of the window.”

Pepper rolls her eyes, but she smiles at him fondly. They’re in the midst of talking in detail about the kinds of things she’ll end up doing with SI when the TV turns on.

“Sir, you may wish to see this.”

They all turn to face to TV and watch a video of a black car on its back, smoking. Anne can see a silhouette inside, and there’s a man with long hair and a mask on stalking towards it. He has what is clearly a metal arm, and he tears the door from the car, only to reveal it is empty.

“Who is that?” Anne asks.

“Codename: Winter Soldier. Other names: Ghost and Winter. He is a noted Hyrda assassin.”

“The man is plastered on the news, and they’re calling him ‘ghost’?” Anne asks.

“That was Fury’s car,” Tony says. “Did Steve survive the drowning?”

“He was pulled from the water by the Winter Soldier.”

Silence follows the proclamation, and Anne figures everyone else is thinking what Anne is. What is a master assassin doing, saving Captain America?

“… wait, Hydra?”

Anne is sure she’s heard the name before, but she’s not familiar with it. Clint appears, looking frazzled.

“You saw?”

Tony nods.

“The Winter Soldier mantle has been floating around since the fifties, but this might be the first time we have a chance to capture him. I’m going to go find Natasha. Try to stay away from this, OK, Tony? This is out of your depth.”

Clint disappears again, and Tony, Anne and Pepper watch after him. Tony looks hurt, but when he notices that Anne and Pepper are looking at him, he dries the expression up and smiles brightly.

“Tony, see what you can do to help them. Anne, we have an English tutor coming in thirty minutes, and he’ll be followed up by a maths, geography and history tutor. If you need anything, ask JARVIS.”

Anne nods and watches as she’s left alone again. She understands that they have busy lives, and Happy had said how great it was that she was going to be able to deal with them not being around all the time. She’s beginning to wonder if that’s true for her.

“Mr Jarvis, if the tutor isn’t nice, will you…” she trails off because she doesn’t want to admit she’s scared.

“If any harm comes to you, young miss, I will attack without prejudice.”

Anne thanks him silently, and then sits on the sofa, waiting. She’s nervous, scared and antsy. She doesn’t want to meet a stranger while she's on her own. Strangers have always been a source of pain for her. She’s not sure if she can get through the whole thing without panicking at least a bit.

Somehow, as though he had read her mind, Bruce shows up. Anne watches him as he moves into the lounge, distracted by the tablet in his hand. He sits down, hums to himself and doesn’t move again.

Anne wonders if he even knows that he’s there. She waits, but five minutes pass, and he still hasn’t said anything or looked up. Anne is ready to call attention to herself, but the elevator dings, something she’s noticed JARVIS only does when people are showing up and they need a little forewarning.

Bruce and Anne both turn to face it, and a young man steps into the lounge, looking awkward. He’s wearing blue jeans and an orange hooded jumper and doesn’t look much older than Anne herself. He looks around the room nervously and smiles at Anne.

“Hi, um, Mr Stark asked me to come and help you study English?”

Anne nods, and he moves forward.

“I’m Mikey,” the boy says, offering her a hand to shake. "Well, technically, I'm Michaelangelo, but please don't call me that. It's a weird name."

Anne shakes like she was taught to, and he nods, sitting on the floor on the opposite side of the coffee table. Anne slides from the sofa and joins him. She watches as he opens a messenger bag and pulls out several textbooks and an empty notebook.

“Mr Stark ordered these for you, and I’ll use them to help you. What do you think you need to work on the most?”

Anne is thrown by the question and he can see that.

“OK, how about we go through everything and if there’s anything you need extra help on, we’ll work on that later.”

Anne nods, and they get to work.

~

By the end of the day, Anne is positively exhausted, and it’s barely even six. Bruce had stayed with her the entire time, never saying anything, keeping to himself, and Anne is happy about that. She’s not sure she’d have felt nearly as comfortable if she’d been on her own.

“Do you like curry?”

Anne nods and follows him in into the kitchen.

“Can I help?”

Bruce gives her some food to cut up, while he himself start the oven and stovetop. Anne enjoys being useful, and Bruce seems happy to remain mostly silent. It’s comfortable. Anne wonders why Bruce spends so much time away from them, to the point that it almost feels as though he’s not there.

Anne can’t stop herself thinking about it now that it’s in her head, and even when dinner is ready, and she’s eating, she feels fit to bursting with the need to ask.

“Why don’t you hang around very much?” she asks, suddenly, words spilling out of her mouth.

He looks startled, and Anne tries to reign it in.

“I just mean, I don’t see you very often. You were at my bedside for _ages_ when I was sick, and now… did I do something to make you angry?”

Bruce sighs, and frowns down at his food. Anne feels instantly guilty. She’s making him feel bad and she didn’t mean to. She has no self-control when it matters the most, apparently.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean… that was… sorry.”

Bruce smiles sadly at her and shakes his head.

“No, it’s not your fault. I’m just busy and… you know what my part on the team is, don’t you?”

Anne nods. Of course, she does. The Hulk is just as famous as the rest of the Avengers.

“Well, he’s dangerous. It takes a lot to bring him out, but when he’s out, he’s destructive and bloodthirsty. I can’t have him around you. If he were to hurt you, any of you, I’d never have forgiven myself.”

“But, if you can disassociate yourself from him, why can’t you do that with the blame?”

Bruce looks her over like he’s trying to find something. When he clearly comes up empty, he sighs.

“Because it’s there because of me. Whatever damage my own creation does is on me.”

“I don’t think you’ll hurt any of us. What’re the chances it will even happen?”

“Too high to risk,” Bruce says, and there’s panic to his voice now. “I can’t allow myself to put you in that position.”

“What if I don’t care?”

“Then you’re just like Tony. Both willing to risk yourself for the sake of someone else. And that’s not going to change my decision.”

“I wish it would. I think you’re kinda cool, Mr Banner.”

They return to eating in silence, and Anne shifts around in her chair, trying to figure out where to go from there. She doesn’t want to let Bruce stew in his thoughts, but he’s clearly set his mind to this.

“What kind of things do you do in your lab?”

He makes a strange noise and looks at her again.

“Mostly genetic stuff.”

“Like… test tube babies?”

“No, no. Far from it!”

And Bruce launches into a complicated explanation of what he does, and Anne hangs on to every word like he’s telling a particularly riveting bedtime story. Their food is finished, and the plates were forgotten as Anne listens to him list off the experiments he’s conducted, the papers he’s written, the research he’s read. It’s not until she yawns, that he chuckles and looks at his watch.

“Goodness, it’s late. You should go to bed.”

“No!” she almost shouts.

“I’ll tell you more tomorrow, but you have more tutors coming in tomorrow, and I won’t be the reason you fall asleep face first into a book.”

Anne frowns but eventually relents. When she goes to sleep that night, it’s with a small smile that she finally saw a part of Bruce he had been reluctant to let out.

 

~

 

Tony is so close to tearing his hair out that he might actually scream at some point. He’s been left behind on what is clearly an important mission, and he has no way to know what to do from here. He has no information other than the bare bones of it, and no way of accessing more.

Fury is dead. Steve was beaten by a masked assassin who has been active since the fifties. Natasha is off-grid and now so is Clint. SHIELD has fallen. Hydra has risen. And there’s not a damn thing he can do about it.

He feels useless.

Do they not trust him? Is that what it is? Has he not shown them that he’s useful? He’s certain that he’s done enough for the Avengers and for SHEILD now to be known as useful. It’s a strange breed of painful to have that idea fought against. He was so sure. He was so certain that he was good for the team, that his input was valued, that he was respected.

And that’s all come crashing down around him.

How could he do this to himself? Why does he continue to let himself have faith in people? It’s stupid and dangerous and his thoughts are contagious. They spread like a wildfire at the smallest hint of experiencing anything other than anger and annoyance. He’s like a child with no sense of object permanence. Just because people don’t brush him off all the time doesn’t mean they want him around.

But the team might not, but Pepper does. Rhodey does. Happy does.

 _Anne_ needs him.

And somehow the hurt of his realisation is softened by that. They aren’t just people who want him around. They’re his family. The people he loves most in the world and would give for them to be happy.

Tony stares at the large screen and frowns in contemplation.

“Ok, maybe they don’t want Iron Man, but Tony Stark has a knack for getting into places he shouldn’t.”

“Indeed,” JARVIS deadpans. “What is our plan of action, sir?”

“First, scour the hospitals to find Steve and make sure he’s getting the best medical care possible. Next, search _all_ security footage to find the Winter Soldier. He’s obviously not that elusive if he made it on Fox News. And finally, find Natasha. One of her widow bites has a tracker in it. We can at least make sure she’s OK.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tony uses every ounce of genius he has to break into SHIELDS systems, or more appropriately, HYDRAs. He can’t believe how much of this had been happening under his nose. It’s almost inconceivable, considering how often he would peruse their systems at will. How did he and JARVIS not find the anomalies that are so clear to see now that he knows to look?

It’s astounding. And worse yet, wasn’t Fury supposed to be the worlds greatest spy? How did he never know? HYDRA is smart, but America is supposed to be smarter. Captain America is supposed to be better. Good is supposed to win. So, why isn’t it working out like that?

“Sir, you have been down here for approximately fourteen hours without food or rest. Ms Potts wishes for you to join her for dinner.”

“Tell her I’m on my way up, J. Oh, and keep me updated on what you find.”

“Of course, sir.”

Tony stretches himself out, grimacing at the sounds from his body. Lord, he’s getting old. He arrives in his penthouse where he finds Anne, Bruce, Pepper and Rhodey sat at the kitchen table.

“Rhodey!”

Rhodes jumps up and pulls him into a bone-crushing hug and then ruffles his hair as he pulls away.

“In light of recent changes to SHIELD, I’ve been given a few days leave,” he explains, dragging Tony to the table. “I think they’re making sure we don’t have any untrustworthy people around. Not that I’m complaining, but I’m still offended.”

Tony claps the man on the shoulder. He kisses Pepper on the cheek.

“Iron Girlfriend,” he announces, before moving onto Anne and kissing her temple. “Iron Daughter.”

He doesn’t miss the way her eyes widen, and a blush appears on her cheeks. It’s worse that slight embarrassment. It’s a genuine shock. Be it because he called her his daughter or something far more depressing. Either way, he’ll help her learnt to accept affection without being surprised that it’s happening.

“What are we eating, queen?” he asks, bowing slightly.

“You’re in a good mood,” Bruce notes absently.

“Of course, he is,” Rhodey chimes. “His BFFL is in town.”

“BFFL?” Anne asks.

Rhodey throws her a tragic look.

“Best friends for life!” he says, with all the sass of a nine-year-old. “We make each other friendship bracelets and braid our hair when we watch Mary-Kate and Ashley and eat ice-cream.”

“We are ice cream the other day!” Anne near shouts, grinning.

“Without me?” Rhodey laments, a hand over his heart.

“I think Uncle Rhodey will have to do more than exist to be invited over for sad ice cream sleepovers,” Tony tells him.

“Wanna go to Disney Land?” Rhodey offers, and Tony laughs at how panicked Anne seems by the suggestion.

“Tomorrow is a school day, I’m afraid,” Tony says. “She’s studying with tutors to help her get her GED.”

“How about next time you have extended leave?” Pepper suggests, placing bowls of steaming soup in front of them all. “We can all go together.”

“I have the entirety of August off, and no time in-between, so not for a while yet.”

Tony notices how hesitant Anne suddenly looks. He knows her well enough to spot when she wants to ask a question. Possibly one that she isn’t sure will be very well received. He’s about to drag it out of her when the elevator pings. Everyone turns to face it as the doors open, revealing Steve, Natasha and Clint.

“Jeez, thanks for the update, Jarvis.”

“Sorry, sir, they were not as easy to find as one might have hoped.”

“You guys look rough,” Anne says, sympathetically. “What happened?”

“It would be easier to list the things that _didn’t_ happen,” Clint says, as he throws himself on the sofa. “And I wasn’t even there for most of it.”

Tony wants to ask Natasha and Steve for all the filler details, but between the haunted looks of Steve’s face and the purposefully empty one on Natasha’s, he knows not to. The spy and the soldier both move into the kitchen and then sit down at the table.

Pepper eyes them up, kind of icily, but seems to vote against verbally castrating them for interrupting her dinner. She rather reluctantly serves the two of them some soup. She then seats herself between Anne and Bruce. Tony wishes Natasha had sat somewhere else. He would much rather have had Pepper’s calming demeanour next to him.

The silence grows, and no one is making an attempt to slice through it. Anne is fidgeting, he can see it in the corner of his eye. She’s uncomfortable too, and he can’t have that.

“Pepper, this soup is divine,” he says, far louder than necessary. “You’re a goddess.”

Pepper, needing no time to understand what he is trying to do, joins in with a little more enthusiasm than is truly needed.

“Thank you, darling. I added some extra spices. Bruce suggested them. I picked up the bread rolls from the bakery down the road.”

“They’re awesome. Thanks, Ms Potts,” Anne says, nervously.

Steve and Natasha don’t touch their food, but Bruce and Rhodey start talking about something Tony doesn’t even both to eavesdrop on. Steve and Natasha stay silent, and he really wishes they’d go elsewhere to do it. They’re making his kind-of kid anxious and his maybe-one-day-wife annoyed.

“Can you teach me to cook?”

He turns to Anne, shocked, and he notes that she doesn’t even look up as she asks, either too distracted by her food, or uncertain about who to ask exactly.

“I can teach you,” Pepper offers. “My mother taught me the basics, but I’m always happy to pass on my skills. I actually prefer baking though. Have you ever made a cake?”

Anne shakes her head, looking hesitantly hopeful, and Tony’s heart swells twice the size like the Grinch at Christmas. His mind fills with the sickeningly wonderful image of his new family throwing flour at each other and laughing. He did it with Jarvis, the real one, and Ana, his wife.

“That sounds good,” Anne says, clearly trying to look unaffected, but the elation in her eyes is hard to cover up.

For Tony, dinner couldn’t end quickly enough. What had promised to be a calm, wonderful dinner had ended up being stressful, awkward and mostly silent. Steve and Natasha had ruined it, and Tony knew he was going to hear about it from Pepper that night.

As he was cleaning the table, he watched as Anne skipped to the sofa to talk to Clint while Rhodey was following behind. He kind of love that. Rhodey was going to be an excellent uncle.

“Should we get her baptised?” Tony asks, earning a snort from Bruce and a fond smile from Pepper.

“You’re serious?” Pepper asks when he doesn’t laugh it off. “Why?”

“Well, why not?” he says. “We can make Rhodey her God-father and Happy God… something. Can she have two God-fathers?”

Peppers shoulders sag.

“You mean, so she still has someone if you die?”

It’s this that elicits the first movement from Steve. He turns to watch them both as Bruce, who clearly anticipates it to devolve into an argument, moves away.

“I just… she needs a back-up. And we know this isn’t the safest occupation in the world so…”

“I’m not good enough, so you need someone else to step in? Am I only twelve per cent of a parent in this?”

“No, that’s not… no.”

Tony can’t figure out what to say. They both know how dangerous this life is, and that he loves being an Avenger. He loves being on the same level as Captain America in some way, as he father always wanted him to be. If he dad were here, he wouldn’t be as much of a disappointment.

Pepper looks like she might cry, and Tony doesn’t know how to stop it from happening.

“We will do everything in our power to bring him back home to you, Ma’am,” Steve promises.

“Sorry, Captain, if your words do nothing to quell my worry. I watched him go through that wormhole. I watched him…”

Pepper chokes on her words and buries her face in her hands.

“You have no idea what it did to him,” she whispers. “You didn’t see how it tortured him. He didn’t sleep, didn’t eat, he had panic attacks and nightmares and none of you was there to help him!”

Tony is frozen in place. Steve looks distraught, Natasha is keeping her expression hardened, but her eyes flick towards him, and Bruce looks devastatingly worried. Tony hates that. For all he pretends otherwise, he hates attention of any kind. He especially hates sympathy and worry.

“Pep,” Tony begs.

“I need time alone,” she says, curtly, and then runs from the kitchen.

“Tony, you never said…” Bruce sounds uncertain and far too touchy-feely.

“She’s… being over-dramatic,” Tony says.

No one believes him, and he doesn’t know what else to do, so he finishes washing up and runs after Pepper.

 

~

 

Anne watches as Mr Stark runs into the bedroom after what she is sure was an Upset Ms Potts. Rhodey must have seen it too because he immediately drags Anne into a new conversation.

“Tell us about your interview,” he urges, which makes Clint sit up, too.

“It went _horribly,_ ” Anne admits. “The man told Mr Stark that true AI’s were a fantasy, and after Mr Jarvis corrected him, he got mad, I think. I don’t think I’ll get into MIT.”

“Should I send a flaming arrow with a letter attached, threatening them?” Clint offers, a little too sincerely for Anne’s tastes.

“Or, you know, I still have some pull there,” Rhodey says, with a sideways glance at Clint. “Let me guess; it was Professor Green? He’s always been a grumpy old man. Used to always fight and argue with Tones. I think he was intimidated by the scrawny kids’ intelligence levels. If I’m honest, I think the university will take everything negative he says with a pinch of salt. Hell, it might even bolster your chances.”

“Really?”

Rhodey smiles at her fondly.

“Yeah, really. Don’t sweat it. Now, Bruce said you were having an issue with English Lit?”

“Mr Banner!” Anne cries out indignantly. “Why?”

“It came up,” Bruce defends. “I thought he might be able to help.”

“I was the one who helped Tones with his English lit stuff. He helped me with the maths. Different kinds of intelligence, you see.”

Anne nods without fully understanding what he means. And granted, she has issues when it comes to understanding the nuances of the written word, but anything that works with numbers, maths, science, computers, robotics, Anne can do it. Words, though, elude her more often than not.

“What do you want in return?”

Clint, Rhodey and Bruce all share pained, uncomfortable looks with each other while Anne watches, confused and concerned with their wellbeing.

“I just mean, how do I repay you? Cause there’s stuff I won’t do anymore… I mean…” Anne is flailing. “I grew up around weird people.”

The admission is lighter than it feels, but they seem to understand. She wants to make a joke to defuse the awkward tension. They know, now if they didn’t before, that she’s made some shady deals in the past and had no control in any of them. She’d been meaning to ask Tony the same question, but fear of him saying yes, and giving her the answer, she’s heard so many times stopped her. She wants to trust Mr Stark. More trust than her life is worth.

“Anne, no one here will ever ask something from you that you don’t feel comfortable doing,” Rhodey tells her. “Whatever life you lived between Afghanistan and here is not something you will ever experience again, OK? That’s a promise.”

Clint nods empathetically, to show that he, too, will ensure this fact stays the same.

“I’m tired,” she lies, and then moves towards the elevator. “Night guys.”


	15. Forts and stuff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's 6 minutes past Monday here, so technically, it's late, and I apologise for that.
> 
> Also, Mikey is Michaelangelo from the ninja turtles. I had a mad crush on him when I was younger.

There’s no way Anne can put the cat back in the bag, if the cat was ever, in fact, in the bag. She’s sure that they were all aware _something_ was up, but maybe they weren’t aware of the specifics? She’s not spoken to anyone about it, the deepest she’s gotten with any of them is that she has some deep-seated guilt over what she was made to do when she was with the Ten Rings.

This is something else. This is… the kind of things she’s been through aren’t really things she wants to talk about. She’s not even sure if she can, really. She’s never tried.

She doesn’t even want to think about the things she was made to do. It all seems way worse now that’s she’s been away from it all so long. Now that she’s surrounded by people she thinks she might be able to trust, it’s so easy to see how wrong it all was, but at the time, it was _normal._ Normal for her at least. She suddenly feels suddenly very dirty and shaky.

“Miss, you’re having a panic attack,” JARVIS accuses.

“Am not,” Anne denies, even as she lowers herself to the floor, gasping for breath.

“I’m going to call for help,” JARVIS warns, and then the room becomes impossibly silence.

In the back of her conscious, where the panic is yet to grow, she knows that he’s doing it so that she can’t ask him not to. She wonders if Mr Stark has put in some kind of protocol that makes him unable to deny certain requests? That thought alone makes her feel really uncomfortable. When she’s finished freaking out, she might ask.

She figures the next best thing is to crawl into the corner between the wardrobe and the desk. She hugs her knees to her chest and tries to breathe, but then the flashes start, harmonising with the panic.

She feels like death. She doesn’t know how else to describe it. She can feel it hugging her, constricting her chest and whispering promises of a drawn-out even as her soul is stolen and her light is muffled. She can’t even see properly, and every time she hears their voices, she feels their bodies, smells their alcoholic breath. She struggles out of the arms, screams for them to stop, cries because she knows it won’t work. Faints, because she’s not breathing.

 

~

 

“Pepper, please,” Tony begs, closing the door behind him. “I know you hate it, but the world needs Iron Man to keep it safe.”

“But what about me? And your daughter? What then?” she’s sat on the bed with a picture of them at a gala together. “It’s one thing to replace your responsibilities as a businessman, but what about everything else? What about the people who love you? What about us?”

“I’m saving you too!” Tony shouts. “I can save you both from the next alien invasion, from the next terrorist attack. I’m doing this for you as much as I am the next person.”

“But everyone else has _other_ Avengers! I only have one of you. When you die, they still have Steve, or Thor, or Clint, or Natasha and Bruce. But I don’t. I’ll be left alone. The man I love will be gone because he felt like he owed the world something.”

“I do!” Tony argues back. “I owe so much. I didn’t become the merchant of death through Irony, Pep. I earned that name. I killed thousands of people, and I need to fix that!”

“Tony, that wasn’t _you_. That was the people who used your stuff. Do you blame Einstein for every death caused by Nuclear bombs? Do you blame the maker of a car that is used to run someone over? No. So why is this any different?”

Tony takes a few steadying breaths. He hates arguing with Pepper.

“Your anger is justified, OK? I get it, but I can’t let people die. It will be on me.”

“Tony, that’s ridiculous!” Pepper cries out. “It’s not on you to save the world, especially when you’re not the one putting it in danger. You can’t honestly think that.”

Tony is about to empathetically refuse her words, but JARVIS interrupts.

“Anne is having a panic attack.”

Neither Tony nor Pepper hesitate for even a second. They both tear out of the room and into Anne’s, where they find her in the corner, curled into a ball. Her breaths are heaving and her eyes are wide and watering, but Tony knows she’s not seeing them.

“Oh god,” Pepper whispers, a hand snaking in through the gap to hold Anne’s. “Anne?”

Pepper drops to the floor, paying no heed to her expensive suit, and she tentatively reaches out to Anne. Tony kneels beside her and looks at the camera imploringly.

JARVIS starts to play music, and Tony starts to talk to Anne, telling her mundane things, like what they ate, what they talked about, plans for the next week. Anne comes back to them in gasping sobs, and Tony pulls her out of her hiding hole and into his arms. He rocks her gently, trying to help calm her down.

“You’re ok. You’re OK. I’ve gotcha. We’ve gotcha. You’ll be fine. You’re here. We’ve gotcha.”

Tony pulls Pepper in, and they all sit on the floor of Anne’s room, rocking and working to reassure Anne.

“I had flashbacks,” Anne whispers after a long time being silent. “About some men, I knew years ago.”

Pepper bows her head and takes Anne’s hand, squeezing it tightly. Anne curls into Tony’s chest, hiding her face in his shirt.

“They weren’t… they always…”

“You don’t have to talk about it yet if you’re not read,” Tony promises. “I’m always ready to listen.”

“As am I,” Pepper offers.

“OK.”

Anne sounds so small, and Tony can’t help but liken her to a child. He wants to hold her tight and protect her from all the evil in the world. Sadly, she’s endured so much already and he needs to work extra hard to make it up to her. The most he can do now is make sure she’s never forced into those situations again.

“You tired?” Tony asks, after Anne yawns and tries to cover it up.

“No.”

Tony raises an eyebrow and laughs.

“J, tell the team to assemble. We have a fort to build and it must be all hands on deck.”

 

~

 

When the Avengers meet in the lounge, Clint is happily bouncing on the balls of his feet, and Natasha is smirking at his child-like excitement. Rhodey and Bruce are stood shoulder-to-shoulder, looking at Anne with concern. Steve is stood back from the group, looking out of the window, his mind clearly elsewhere.

“Right, team. We have a mission. We need to build the best goddamn fort that we can, and then we must, I repeat, _must_ watch The Little Mermaid.”

Clint nods seriously and begins to gather the cushions from the sofa. JARVIS orders the bots to collect sheets and bring them up. Tony orchestrates the building with Pepper at his side and Rhodey, Bruce and Natasha following his every word. Clint, once he’d finished harvesting resources, proves unmanageable, and Tony opts to leave him to his own devices.

Steve still doesn’t have his head in the room, so Anne climbs over the assembly and gently taps him on the arm. He startles enough that Anne takes a hasty and frightened step back. Steve looks shocked enough that Anne feels bad and decides to dig right into the problem.

“Want to help me get snacks, Mr Rogers?” she offers. “The contractors are almost finished.”

Steve nods, though she can tell that he’s still not all there. His eyes are seeing things that aren’t in this room. She’s not sure what she can do to help him, since something is clearly bothering him, and emotional support is not her forte.

They walk into the kitchen together, and Anne watches Steve carefully as he moves around, not paying attention to what he’s doing. Anne puts popcorn in the microwave, and the noise makes him jump. He blinks a few times and finds Anne.

“You OK?” she asks, knowing the answer already.

“Sure, sure,” he lies, distractedly. “What… uh, what was I doing?”

“Mr Rogers, what happened? Did the Winter Soldier hurt you?”

Steve looks at her for a long time before sighing.

“No. He… uh… no. He turned out to be someone I know.”

Anne tilts her head to the side and waits for further explanation. The only sounds around them are Tony’s commanding voice and the popping from the microwave. Steve looks painfully conflicted, but they were all very invested in her talking to someone. Shouldn’t Steve do the same?

“Mr Rogers, it helps to talk about, you know?”

Steve smiles wryly, and Anne knows that he won’t speak to her about it. She’s at a loss, and in absence of being useful, she simply grabs the popcorn and signals for him to follow. He’s going to need this just as much as she does.

“Settle in guys. We’re in for a whirlwind of an evening,” Tony tells them, as he pulls Pepper down onto the cushions with him.

Anne joins them, handing out the snacks she and Steve raided. Tony shoots Steve a worried look, but his attentions turn back to Anne and Pepper so fast that he likely has whiplash as a result. Anne pulls a blanket over herself and leans against the back of the sofa, and it takes minutes for her to fall asleep to the sound of the movie and the quiet chatter of the Avengers.

~

“She’s asleep,” Pepper whispers.

Rhodey and Bruce lean forward to look at her and then give Tony a meaningful look.

“What?” he asks, already on edge. “What’s wrong?”

“She said some things tonight, and we’re concerned,” Rhodey says, his voice low.

“Yeah, it was, ugh, odd,” Clint weighs in. “Haven’t you made her go to therapy, Tony? I think you need to read a parenting book.”

“She’s going to therapy,” Pepper hisses to him, eyes narrowed. “It’s not an immediate fix, though.”

“What did she say?” Tony asks, not looking at Clint or Pepper.

“She made reference to paying people back for favours. I think she was forced into some… precarious situations when she left Afghanistan.”

Pepper chokes on a sob, looking down at Anne with pained eyes.

“Oh god,” she whispers.

“I think if there was a God, this would never have happened,” Tony says, his eyes hard and his mouth tight. “I will kill whoever hurt her.”

It’s a testament to how little Steve is paying attention that he doesn’t defend God or complain about Tony’s claim that he’s going to senselessly slaughter an unknown amount of people. He’s normally a very Christian, moral person. Tony doesn’t have the focus to notice this though. He’s caught up with the fact that someone hurt his daughter.

And she is his daughter. Maybe not in the biological sense, but there’s something about her that makes him so protective. Maybe it’s their shared experience with the Ten Rings or their suffering with the world that never seems to ease up. He relates to her on a level he’s never been able to with anyone else.

He’d be a fool if he didn’t recognise that as being a serious problem. Tony has encountered so many hardships in his life, and no-one, especially a child, should have to suffer nearly as much as he has. Anne is still innocent, still able to undo a substantial amount of the damage that has been inflicted upon her, but it will be neither easy nor smooth sailing.

But, that won’t stop him and Pepper from doing everything they can to help her. She deserves a better life, and if they can provide it for her, then that’s what they’ll do. And, if the way the others are acting, he’s sure he can rely on them to step up and do what they can to help.

“The Winter Soldier is Bucky.”

Everyone freezes at the sound of Steve’s voice, and slowly they all turn to him. Tony and Rhodey share a shocked look, whereas Pepper simply blinks in confusion. Natasha’s mouth tightens into a grimace, and Steve looks hurt.

Tony’s heart clenches.

“I’ll help you search,” Tony promises.

Steve looks at Tony, as though regarding him with suspicion, and Tony feels his stomach drop. Does Steve not trust him? Does Steve not believe that he can help? Or is he shocked that he will help? Natasha seems conflicted about something, and Tony doesn’t know what to say. Do they all think he’s so self-involved that he wouldn’t put his resources to use for them?

Did he not fly a damn nuke into space? What does he have to do to prove himself to these people?

“Dammit, Steve. Take it or leave it, but the offer is an honest one. I understand what Bucky means to you,” Tony says with a meaningful look to Rhodey. “I’ll help.”

It takes a second, and Tony actually thinks the man might turn down his offer, but he nods a small cautious movement.

“JARVIS, search for Winter Soldier: new name, James Barnes.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alert Steve and myself to any news and sighting about him, understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

Tony squeezes his hold on Anne as she shifts and nuzzles into his side. Pepper’s attention strays towards her and the confusion softens into adoration. Tony is glad that he’s not the only one who’s fallen for her. The family they’re going to start together will be perfect.

“Thanks, Stark,” Steve says.

Tony watches as he gets up to leave and wonders how they moved back to surnames so quickly. What the hell did Tony do to earn that?

~

Anne wakes up with Tony’s arm around her shoulder and her face in his stomach. Her face turns red and she jolts upwards, away from Tony, who she can see is awake. He looks amused, and Pepper is waking up too, smiling at her warmly.

“Sorry,” she mumbles. “Didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

“This whole fort was a trick to make you fall asleep,” Tony admits. “No apologies necessary.”

Anne looks around at the other Avengers and shakes her head. Natasha has fallen asleep across the sofa, and Clint has his back against the foot of the sofa with his head supported by Natasha’s thigh. It looks painful, but he looks calm in sleep. Steve had fallen asleep on one of the armchairs, but he looks anything by peaceful. He looks tormented, and Anne looks to Tony for an explanation.

“I’ll explain later,” he promises.

Anne searches for Bruce, but she can’t see him or Rhodey. Noises from the kitchen indicate that they may have gone to make coffee and food. She can’t smell anything yet, though, and if she strains her ears, she can hear three voices.

“Thor is back?” she says, hopeful.

She likes Thor. For a start, he’s never outwardly offended Tony, and for another, he’s a lot of fun. His weird way of speaking will forever be a source of entertainment to her, and she learnt while recovering in hospital that he tells the best stories. She’s not sure how many of them to believe, because a lot of them contain mythical creatures, but she supposes he is from a different planet. Who can say what kind of animals they have there?

“You have your tutors coming in three hours, but I don’t see a reason to take the fort down. I have reason to believe that Michelangelo will like it,” Tony says smiling.

“I still think he lives in the sewers,” Pepper mutters. “He’s a weird kid.”

Anne pulls a face. She can’t imagine where Pepper got that idea. It’s not as if the dude smelt or anything.

“I need to go down to the labs today, but once you’re done, you can come down too, and I’ll help you with your robot plans if you want?”

“Yes, please,” Anne says quickly before he can take the offer back.

“Aren’t you curious about the sewers?” Tony asks.

“I’m not sure I’m even going to ask,” Anne says, frowning. “I liked him.”

“Ooooh,” Clint says, drowsily. “Like like?”

“No!” Anne denies.

“Clint, stop being such a child,” Natasha admonishes, not sounding at all like she’s just woken up. “I already know the answer anyway.”

Anne shakes her head in denial because Clint is wagging his eyebrows and Natasha is smirking. Tony shifts to get a better look at her face and then sighs.

“You have a crush on your tutor?” he whines. “How cliché.”

“I do not!”

“He _is_ cute,” Pepper admits. “His blue eyes and cheeky smile reminds me a little of you.”

“Anne has a crush?” Rhodey shouts, leaning over the sofa.

“No!” Anne squeals. “I don’t!”

“I want to meet him,” Rhodey declares. “Need to meet my future nephew-in-law.”

Anne whines and slides under the duvet. Tony laughs and pats her shoulder sympathetically.

“No-one is allowed to harass Anne while she’s having her lesson. I only grant Bruce access to the floor during those hours.”

“Noted, sir,” JARVIS says.

“Even in your suit, you couldn’t make us _all_ leave,” Clint challenges. “Maybe I’ll just camp out here?”

“I might remind you, Master Clint, that I _am_ weaponised.”

Clint tenses and looks between Tony’s smirk and the TV (Presumably he has decided this works as a good alternative for the ceiling). Natasha shakes her head and moves out of the fort. Clint casts a final suspicious look at Tony and then follows her. The activity wakes up Steve.

“Morning, Cap,” Tony greets.

“Yeah,” Steve replies, clearly distracted.

“JARVIS is still looking, Steve, and if you would just utilise the phone I gave you, you could get regular updates.”

Steve makes a face, Anne can see from where she’s peeking from under the duvet. He mustn’t hate technology enough to risk whatever the objective is here, because, despite his notable reluctance, he nods in agreement.

“I will send you a report every evening, captain,” JARVIS promises.

“Thank you, JARVIS,” Steve says. “It’s appreciated.”

Tony, Anne notices, doesn’t react to gratitude as a normal person would. In fact, he seems quite shocked and suspicious of it.

“Food is ready,” Bruce announces, lifting a corner of the fort up. “Thor is already eating, so if you’re hungry, be quick.”

Steve is slow to move, but he does join Pepper and Anne as they move towards the kitchen at a more sedate pace. They all sit down at the table, but the moment Thor sets his eyes on Anne, she’s engulfed in a tight hug.

“Fair-faced child. It is a pleasure to see you again.”

“Ugh, yeah dude, you too.”

She can hear Tony snickering at Thor's affection, but this only serves to have Thor notice him too. Tony puts up a protest as he’s squeezed with his arms pinned to the side. Thors booming laughter and Tony’s half-hearted struggle sets her panic attack last night at odds with everything. She doesn’t see how things have changed so quickly. Normally, she’d have spent the next few days in a depressive rut that would annoy those around her, and worsen it significantly.

She realises that she’s never been around people who truly cared about her. Not once has anyone taken the time to see if she was OK. No one had bothered to try and help her in her time of need, and she never even expected them to.

“OK, Thor, buddy, bro, put me down now, OK?”

Rather reluctantly, Thor sets Tony down, but he doesn’t let it curb his enthusiasm. Anne both loves and hates that. Tony is constantly putting other peoples happiness above his own comforts. She’s seen him do it so many times, and she assumes that Pepper has too, so how did the team miss it?

“Right, her English tutor will be here in thirty minutes. Anne, you can have Uncle Bruce or Uncle Rhodey sit with you while you have your lessons. It’s up to you.”

Anne feels the heat rising in her face at Tony’s casual use of the terms. She can’t tell if he’s forcing this or not, and she doesn’t have the heart to tell him to stop. Maybe he needs a family as much as she does. Who is she to deny him of that?

“Ugh, both?” she figures it’s easier to say that than throwing herself into using familial terms.

“I’m game,” Rhodey chimes.

“Yeah, I’m happy to sit with you,” Bruce says.

“Excellent, chaperones for the first day, now to clear the stage. Come on, off to work or train, or whatever. Let’s leave them to it!” Tony cajoles. “Out, out!”

Anne hides her face in her hands. Why won’t they let it drop?

“I just want to meet him,” Clint complains.

“The master of the house has forbidden it,” Thor says, cheerfully. “Fun as it may be, it will be rude for their first kiss to have an audience.”

At once, everyone is protesting or correcting Thor. Anne wants to die from embarrassment, and Pepper takes pity on her and takes control of ushering everyone out while telling Thor that Anne is too young for ‘kissing’ and that she is simply having a lesson. It makes Anne feel innocent in ways she hasn’t for a long time.

Tony ruffles her hair fondly and follows the parade, waving the three of them goodbye. Rhodey and Bruce realise that they’ve been left with the clearing up, and Anne is about to offer just as the elevator dings, announcing his arrival.

“We’ll be quick. Scream if you need us,” Rhodey tells her.

Anne nods, face still warm, and she meets Mikey from the door and quickly explains the fort, using as little truth as possible. He seems more amused than anything, and Anne reminds herself to tell Tony he was right.

“I think the elevator just gave me ‘the talk’,” he says, as he sits down.

“Ignore him. The elevator has been listening to rumours.”

Mikey seems understandably confused by this, and they both sit down and dive into studying. Anne is busy trying to discover if she does have a crush on him with Bruce and Rhodey make their way into the fort and sit in the corner, sharing a Starkpad between them.

“Reckon they’re looking at naked ladies?” Anne asks, snickering.

“Like, the bare naked ladies?”

Anne blinks and waits to see if it’s a joke. Turns out, it’s not. This kid is truly white roses and children’s TV levels of innocence. Anne can’t have a crush on him. All she would be doing is tainting him. She knows what that feels like.


	16. Dad?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are going up, but first, they must come down.

After Mikey goes home, the other tutor shows up, and Anne suffers through another long day of learning. She’s bouncing with excitement about going to the labs to work on her robot with Tony, and she just wishes the tutors would _hurry up_ with their teaching.

When her Geography tutor leaves, Anne jumps up and almost runs to the labs before Bruce calls her name.

“You need to eat first,” he tells her.

“But, Mr Stark said –”

“That you could go work with him, yes, but if you go down there, we be both know neither of you are going eat if I let you go down now,” Bruce says. “Rhodey, go grab Stark.”

Rhodey nods like he’s been given a top-secret mission and heads out of the fort. Bruce gets up and jerks his head towards the kitchen and Anne grudgingly follows him.

“So, are you enjoying your lesson?” Bruce asks as he starts to pull ingredients from the cupboards.

“They’re OK. Anything that will help me get into college is great,” she says.

“You seem to be a quick learner, which is good. It’ll definitely come in handy later on.”

“Hopefully,” Anne says, unsure. “I think working with Mr Stark in the labs and at Stark Industries will help the most though. I’m not sure how much it’ll help to know where Tasmania is.”

“Knowing the world can help you rule it, you know,” Bruce says, wisely. “You should take every opportunity to broaden your mind, even if it’s not something that interests you.”

“I guess.”

Bruce chuckles at her lack of enthusiasm and continues to cook as Tony is practically dragged into the penthouse by Rhodey.

“I’m not hungry, Rhodey,” Tony whines. “I was _busy_!”

“You’re always busy, which is why it’s up to us to remind you to eat and sleep when you fail to.”

“No fair, honey bear,” he complains as he’s forced into a seat at the table.

Anne giggles, finding the entire exchange ridiculous. She knows Tony appreciates them for caring enough, but she understands his frustrations at being pulled away from his work when he’s in the midst of a genius flow.

“I don’t know what you find so funny,” Tony smirks, raising an eyebrow. “You just wait. They’ll do the same to you too.”

“As much as I hope Anne will never pick of those traits, she really is her father’s daughter. I’ve already heard that you refused to go to bed while you were working on learning about robotics,” Rhodey says, disapprovingly. “But there’s still time to help you out of those habits.”

Anne shakes her head, doubtful. She can multi-task better than the next person, but she’s always focused heavily on one thing when she gets herself into the groove. Everything zeroes on whatever she’s working on and she can pass through _days_ without moving from one spot.

“Foods up,” Bruce announces as he starts dishing out food and handing the plates over.

“Thank Bruce,” Tony says begrudgingly as he starts to eat. “Oh wow, this is good.”

“You sound surprised,” Bruce says, with fake hurt in his voice. “Offended.”

“You know I love your cooking,” Tony says. “But after smelling nothing but oil and those damn green motor oil smoothies that Dum-E makes me, this is a heaven I never could have wished to find again.”

“It’s really good, Dr Banner,” Anne tells him, politely.

“Thanks, Anne, and I really wish you’d call me Bruce.”

Anne shrugs. It still feels far too informal to call anyone by their real names.

“Yeah, and if I’m called Mr Stark again, while you let him hold his ‘Dr’ title, I’m gonna start complaining.”

“Like that’s not what you do most of the time anyway?” Anne asks, innocently.

Rhodey laughs aloud at that, and Tony fake pouts.

“Do you still want to come with me to the lab?” Tony asks, between mouthfuls. “Uncle Rhodey has offered to help you with your English Lit work if you need it?”

“You know it’s weird when you call me that, right?” Rhodey says. “And I predict she’s going to turn down that offer. She practically tried to race out of here to your lab when her last session finished.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to learn any more boring crap,” Anne says quickly. “I want to build stuff in labs with you!”

“OK, not many people are so enthusiastic to spend time with me, so I’ll take it when I get it.”

“I’m enforcing a strict bedtime for Anne,” Bruce interjects. “You’re not allowed to let her stay up past eleven.”

“But _Bruce!_ ” Anne and Tony complain together.

“No, I won't hear it. Anne, you’re still recovering from having a brain tumour. Not sleeping isn’t going to help you all that much.”

Anne looks at the clock and sighs.

“You made me waste time _eating_ and now I only get three hours? That’s not fair!”

“OK, I’m gonna take Bruce’s side on this one, Anne,” Tony says, apologetically.

“But –”

“Nope, I won’t hear it. Bruce is right. Despite your obvious disbelief, your health is important.”

“You’re all so boring.”

Rhodey laughs with Tony, but Bruce just rolls his eyes and starts to clear up. Everyone joins in, though Tony makes his disdain known. (“I have a dishwasher, you know.”)

Finally, after eating fifteen minutes into her designated lab, time, Anne is finally free! She is vibrating with excitement as she follows Tony down to the labs.

Anne looks around, trying to decide between investigating his various projects strewn over the work-tops, greeting robots and badgering Tony to teach her immediately.

“I think I need to cut your sugar allowance,” Tony jokes. “You’re buzzing.”

Anne shrugs, knowing there’s nothing she can do to stop her excitement. Dum-E nudges her leg and Anne immediately latches onto her, petting his camera and asking questions that are answered with a series of incomprehensible beeps.

“I love you too, bro,” Anne says, happily.

“Actually, he was asking if you wanted a smoothie,” JARVIS translates.

“Close enough,” Anne smiles.

“Don’t accept it,” Tony warns, “He doesn’t understand that motor oil isn’t as good for us as it is for him.”

Dum-E makes a sad beeping noise and Anne feels awful on his behalf.

“I’ll drink it if it makes you happy,” Anne promises.

“No, Dum-E, take your emotional manipulation and put it away. You can’t be guilting my kid into drinking crap.”

Dum-E beeps sadly and wheels himself away. Anne turns to Tony despairingly.

“Don’t give me that look, Anne,” he says, pointing a finger accusingly. “You look like the worlds saddest kitten and I _cannot_ say no, so turn around.”

Anne shrugs and frowns. She wants to hug Dum-E but doesn’t know how to. So she decides to give herself a tour of the lab, knowing that Tony is watching her every movement. She’s too scared to touch anything because she really doesn’t want to break anything by accident. That would be a tragedy that she could never come back from.

“So, where does one start when building robots? I still haven’t really learnt the basics of… anything,” Anne says, casually.

Really, she’s anxious. She’s anxious she won’t understand. Worried she’s going to annoy Tony with her questions. Unsure about how frustrated either of them will get with her lack of skill-set. She’s trying not let it show, and shoves her now shaking hands into her pockets to hide them.

“We’ll start from the beginning, as most things should. Gotta learn to walk before you run.”

Suddenly, a screen comes to life on the wall of the lab, and it shows Tony is a suit of armor that is obviously an earlier version of the Iron Man suit.

“Gotta run before you walk,” screen Tony says.

“Very funny J. I suppose you want me to teach those principles to the impressionable teenager?”

“Not at all, sir. Just pointing out the hypocrisy.”

Tony is scowling without any real heat to it, and Anne is still laughing at the video.

“Ok, Ok, calm down, it wasn’t that funny.”

“Lie,” Anne snorts. “I guess you learnt your lesson there, hey?”

“Whatever. Come on, lets start.”

Tony and Anne move to an empty workstation and Tony begins drawing diagrams in holoscreens for Anne to study. She replicates what she can, and when she messes up, she bites her lip to stop a cry of frustration. Tony carefully explains where the mistakes were, and calmly shows her how to rectify them. He’s patient, kind and sympathetic to her struggles, and Anne finds herself comfortably asking questions.

She starts to get it just as JARVIS informs them that it’s ten to eleven, and that Anne needs to go get ready for bed.

“Nooooo!” Anne whines. “Mr Stark, I don’t _want to_.”

“Just thirty minutes more,” Tony begs JARVIS.

“Initiating protocol ‘Tony can’t turn down Anne’s puppy eyes’.”

Tony looks confused.

“What is that?”

“That is a protocol that I asked to be installed,” Bruce says as he steps out of the elevator with Rhodey. “I knew you’d cave.”

Tony sighs dramatically and throws his head back.

“Bruce, we’re on a roll!”

“Yes, to recovery. Both of you, upstairs now, before we have to use physical force.”

Anne never knew she had ‘puppy eyes’ but she intends to use it if she can utilise them now.

“Nuh-uh, kid,” Rhodey says, moving to her side. “Your blackmail won’t work on us. Come on.”

Anne pouts as she’s led out of the lab and into the elevator. Tony is putting up far more fuss than she is.

“Bruce, I’m a grown-ass man in my element. Leave me here. Think of all the inventions you’re cock-blocking because you think everyone should eat three meals a day and sleep eight hours a night.”

“Tony, those are basic needs. This isn’t _me_ saying it. It’s the world. You can go back to investing in the morning.”

“But I want to invest _now_.”

“Tones, you sound like a child. Just go to sleep,” Rhodey says, smiling.

“Platypus, don’t be so boring.”

They make it to the penthouse and Anne stomps off to her to the tune of Tony’s continued complaints. She quickly changes and climbs into bed, wondering if she can convince Tony into letting her do some pre-lesson lab time.

“Knock knock,” comes a voice outside.

“You know you don’t have to say the words, right?” Anne says, sitting up.

“Yeah, well…” Rhodey steps into the room but doesn’t continue to walk in. Instead he leans against the wall next to the door frame.

“Is everything OK?”

Rhodey smiles.

“Yeah, Anne. Everything is fine. I just want to say thank you.”

“What for?”

“Tony.”

Anne cocks her head to the side in confusion.

“He’s better than I’ve seen him in years. He’s always taking care of people, providing, putting his life on the line, but there aren’t many people who appreciate that or even try to give back. You’re special, kid. He cares about you like you were his biological kid, and I think I can see that you’re slowly coming to love him like a father. I think this arrangement is good for you, but I want to say thank you for sticking around. I can’t do much of that, and Pepper is always busy with the company. You and Bruce are the only constants right now, and you’re both good for him.”

Anne doesn’t know what to say, so she shrugs shyly. Rhodey chuckles, wishes her goodnight and closes the door behind him. Anne lays back down and stares at the ceiling.

“Mr Jarvis?”

“Yes?”

“Would Tony hate me if I called him ‘Dad’?”

“Not at all, young miss. I think you’d make his day.”

Anne smiles to herself and closes her eyes.

~

Tony is cajoled into bed by Bruce, and even his salacious remarks and rude insults don’t deter the man.

“But I slept _last_ night,” Tony reminds him, as he’s being tucked in like a petulant two year old.

“That’s the point, Tony,” Bruce tells him patiently. “You’re supposed to sleep every night.”

“That’s a waste of time.”

“You and I have very different idea’s about what constitutes a waste of noise.”

“Mine is less boring,” Tony snarks.

Though, it’s a testament to how much sleep he needs to catch up on that he fell asleep almost immediately.

When he wakes up, he’s not in his bed anymore. He’s in the suit, and he’s flying up into a wormhole. He’s not in control. The suit is acting of it’s own accord. He starts to scream, to warn the suit that it needs to let go earlier, but it doesn’t listen. No one ever does.

Then, he’s falling. But he’s awake. That’s wrong. The pressure, the G-Force should have knocked him out. But he’s falling, and as his body twists and he’s facing the ground, he see’s that it isn’t Manhatten anymore. It’s dry desserts and cavernous mountains.

“Stop!” he screams. “Stop!”

But the suit continues to soar towards the ground, despite him. He crashes into the mountains and the suit it torn from him. He lands on the ground, and he’s looking up at people in face scarves. They’re all leering down at him, but then they grab him. They haul him from the ground and carry him to a trough of dirty water.

“No, please!” he begs, brokenly. “Don’t, please do –”

His face is shoved into the water, and he can’t breathe. He struggles against the arms holding him, but he’s still weak from the surgery. He can’t free himself. Bubbles replace his screams, and his body slows down. He’s dying. He’s going to drown. His vision darkens.

He’s lifted from the water and he takes a deep breath, but he’s pushed back down. His screams and convulsions felt restrained, held back. His tears and the water were one. He was pulled back and he vomited blood. They pushed him back in and he couldn’t catch his breath this time. He blacked out.

“Tony.”

Tony laid on the floor of his cell, gasping, hand searching for the car battery attached to his chest. They groped the cold floor, shook as they trailed over his chest, but it’s not there. He can’t find it. It’s gone. He’s going to die. The shrapnel. It’s clawing it’s way through his veins to his heart. He’s dying.

“Tony.”

Tony searches the room for the noise and he see’s Yinsen. He’s crumbled in the corner, his eyes open, but white and unseeing. His mouth moves like a demons.

“What did you do with my sacrifice? Tony, what did you do with my sacrifice. TONY, WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY SACRIFICE?”

The screaming sends icy shivers soaking through his body, and Tony tries to crawl over to him, but his arms are held at his side. He thrashes, begs, screams, but nothing is happening. He’s not moving.

“ _Tony_.”

A harsh, sharp pain forces his eyes to open, and he see’s darkness, feels the cold wetness from the near-drowning, hears his screams. He fights against the arms holding him still, but he’s weak with fatigue and fear. He’s barely making any movement at all, the arms are holding too tightly.

“Sir, you are in Avengers Tower. It is three in the morning, and Anne is in the room down the hall fast asleep.”

Tony struggles to take a breath.

“Captain Rogers, Master Barton and Miss Romanov are in their rooms, sleeping.”

Tony takes several small mouthfuls of air.

“Dr Bruce is with you.”

The arms around his loosen and Tony turns around to see him looking worried.

“Tony,” he says, whispering.

“Bruce,” Tony replies, faintly.

They both sit on his bed for a moment in silence while Tony tries to get a handle on himself. He realises that he’s covered in sweat, and he can smell the pungent odour of vomit. He looks down and realises that he’s managed to throw up everything he ate last night.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, deeply ashamed.

“Tony, are you OK?”

“Sure.”

Bruce rubs a hand up and down Tony’s back.

“You’re not, but go get a shower and I’ll make you a hot chocolate.”

Tony snorts a laugh but makes his way to the bathroom anyway. He’s shaking, and as he undresses, he chokes on a sob. He thought it was over. He thought the nightmares were going to be kept at bay. Having Anne around was doing wonders for him. He no longer felt like a failure, or an outcast in his own home. He felt like he finally had a family in Pepper and Anne.

So why did the nightmares come back?

When he steps into the shower, he makes a concentrated effort not to stand under the cascading water, knowing that it would only further his panic attack. He’s not ready for that. He can’t do that to himself.

Once the sweat and vomit has been suitably washes away, Tony climbs from the shower and wraps a towel around himself, and heads into the bedroom to change into some proper clothes. He strips his bed, wondering where Pepper was, and then heads into the kitchen.

Pepper leaps into his arms, and he notices that her eyes are red.

“I was so worried, Tony,” she whispers.

“I’m sorry.”

He feels guilt settle over him like a weighted blanket and he leads her to the kitchen table where Bruce is handing out mugs of steaming chocolate. Tony accepts his gratefully.

“You haven’t had a nightmare like that in a while,” Pepper notes shakily. “Are you OK?”

“Yeah,” he mutters. “Maybe it was just a one off?”

No one looks convinced, and Tony isn’t either. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but he really doesn’t want the nightmares to come back. They were hard enough the first time around. He can’t keep putting Pepper in danger because he can’t control himself.

“It’s not your fault, Tony,” Pepper promises. “And hey, you didn’t call the armour this time around, so that’s good.”

Bruce looks perplexed by this, and before he even has the chance to ask, Pepper explains what happened while Tony looks into the mug of chocolate as though it might hold the answers to his current predicament.

“Tony, why didn’t you tell anyone?” Bruce asks, when Pepper is finished. “We could have helped.”

“You weren’t there,” Pepper tells him, confused. “No one was there. Tony had to deal with it on his own, as well as the mandarin. You were a team for five seconds, and then you all left. After he flew a _nuke_ through a wormhole.”

“Pepper, that’s enough,” Tony says. “It’s no one’s job to come rescue me when things go bad, OK? I’m a grown man. I can look after myself.”

“But you shouldn’t have to,” Bruce interjects. “I’m sorry we weren’t there to help with the fallout. We should have known that you wouldn’t come out unscathed.”

“I’m fine,” Tony spits. “I’m not some kid that needs coddling, OK? You don’t _need_ to look after me? I can watch my own back, take care of myself, and survive without people all over me.”

They hear a door open and close, and Anne comes out, her hair ruffled from sleep and her fist rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Dad?” she says, her voice quiet and unsure.

Tony is frozen. Did she just call him _Dad_? Is she confused? Does she think she’s at her real parents’ home? Did the shouting trigger something for her, like it did a few nights ago?

Anne stumbles blinded by her tiredness and moves to stand by Tony. Tony, still frozen, looks at Bruce and Pepper for guidance, but they both look stupidly stunned by the situation too.

“Are you OK? I heard shouting.”

Tony pulls her into a hug, and is immediately grateful when she relaxes after a moment of being tense. She wraps her arms around him, and hugs him tightly back.

“Would you like some hot chocolate?”

“Yes, please, Uncle Bruce.”

There’s a moment of shocked silence, and both Bruce and Anne go red from it, but then Bruce seems to find himself and he immediately starts to make another mug.

Once they all have a drink, they fall into a strange silence. It’s not awkward, but it is filled with questions.

“Is it OK?” Anne asks, eventually.

“Is that OK?” Pepper asks.

“If I… If I call you guys… y’know…”

“Of course, darling. Of course it is. Nothing will make us happier.”


	17. Um... sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I'm so sorry that this chapter is short and super-empty of a real story-line. I've been working for a client who has a book out in a few weeks and it's been hectic.  
> I promise I'll fix something up and throw it in this week.  
> This was supposed to be the start of Ultron :'(

Anne falls back asleep quickly, too tired to feel the right levels of anxiety. When she wakes up, though, it hits her hard, and she’s making up for her deficit.

She can’t believe she threw herself into that. Had she been more awake, she never would have gone so hard. She’d have taken have eased herself into it. Gone slowly. Talked herself out of it. Never considered it again. Cussed JARVIS for ever allowing herself to be so soft.

“Anne?”

Pepper gently knocks on the door and Anne quickly jumps out of bed. Pepper is coming to shout at her for being so presumptuous. She shouldn’t have done that. Jesus, how could she have done that?

“Anne, we have to get ready. Your first day of SI is today, remember?”

Anne can’t help but groan, and she hears Pepper chuckle behind the door.

“Can I come in? I have your suit. We can do your hair too if you want?”

Anne isn’t sure. Is she still embarrassed about her faux pas? Or is she going to pretend nothing ever happened? She could probably do that, no problem.

“Anne, darling? Are you OK?”

“Sorry, yeah, just waking up. Sure, come in.”

The door opens immediately, and Pepper comes in with her suit on a hanger and a backpack.

“This is your overalls for when you go to the labs,” Pepper explains, dropping the bag by the door. “Tony says it’ll likely get very messy.”

“Can’t wait,” Anne says, nervously.

Pepper smiles softly, and sits down on the edge of the bed, pulling Anne down with her. Anne swallows, wondering what could possibly be coming. Pepper doesn’t look angry. She doesn’t even seem disappointed. In fact, she looks amused. Like she’s finding something funny but in a weirdly fond way.

“Anne, are you worried about calling Tony ‘dad’?”

Anne shifts and picks at the edges of her fingernails.

“You know you’ve made his day? He’s been not-so-subtly trying to get you to say it for a while, but Tony has always been about rushing results. I thought it would take longer. What convinced you?”

“Mr Jarvis,” she admits.

Pepper laughs loudly and shakes her head.

“I’m not surprised,” she says. “Come on, let's get ready. Put your suit on and I’ll do your hair. We can grab a Starbucks.”

Anne works quickly to get dressed, and Pepper spends a while pulling her wig into dutch braids.

“You look so grown up!” she declares.

Anne’s fingers trace the edge of the wig and she frowns.

“Will people notice that it’s not my real hair?”

“Why does that matter?”

Anne shrugs self consciously.

“Anne, you’re beautiful with or without hair. Your personality will always shine through anyway. Don’t look at yourself through the eyes of potential judgement, because it’s not healthy and it’s a downward spiral.”

Anne’s fingers freeze as she considers these words. Finally, she nods and smiles.

“Ok, can I get a latte?”

Pepper pulls a face.

“Please?”

 

~

 

Anne is at the office for approximately five minutes before she realises that she’s going to be bored. Pepper was immediately accosted by secretaries, heads of departments, board members, phone-calls for business partners, journalists and other such people. That took an hour. An hour from the main door to the fifteenth floor. And the moment Pepper sat down, she was on the phone having what sounded like a heated discussion with someone in a foreign language.

“I’m sorry, Anne, this probably isn’t all that interesting. I promise I’ll find us something more entertaining to work on, but this is important.”

“I understand,” Anne promises. “Can I borrow the tablet? Maybe Mr Jarvis can show me some stuff that’ll help explain the politics of it all.”

Pepper hands over a tablet and continues to speak through the phone in what Anne thinks is rapid Korean. Jarvis opens up several tabs that explain the history of SI and the problems it has encountered over the years, from the death of Howard Stark to the decision to end their weapons distribution made by Tony post-Afganistan.

There’s a lot of information to take in, especially the information about Stane. Anne knows about Stane. He was the one she was initially being ordered by, right up until Raj realised that the man they were taking was the famous Tony Stark, at which point, he decided that they weren’t going to kill him, but rather use him.

“Anne, come on, we’ll go meet some of my staff,” Pepper says, tapping on the edge of the tablet. “They’re all very excited to meet the mystery child that walked in with the boss.”

“They already think I’m a child?” Anne complains.

Pepper laughs and guides her out of the large office and into the corridors that lead into more offices and meeting rooms. She takes Anne right to the end, where there are a wide opening and several people in suits standing around, drinking coffee and talking in low tones.

“Ms Potts!” one of them calls.

Pepper smiles and puts her arm over Anne’s shoulder protectively.

“They’re gossip vultures, Anne. Be careful.”

Anne, with this new information, sees them all in a new light. They no longer look like simple people, but they all carry an air of darkness around them. Anne pictures the vultures of ‘A Jungle Book’ that Clint made her watch.

“Ah, the mystery guest,” one of the ladies says, smiling warmly.

It looks genuine, but Anne is suspicious already.

“I’m Angie. I’m something of the mother to all the other staff on this floor. You best be careful what you say, cause these guys are the worst kind of gossips,” she says.

Everyone responds in vehement disagreement and Angie just laughs.

“They all think they’re innocent,” she whispers with a wink. “Not a single one of them can keep a damn secret.”

Anne smiles despite her uncertainty and Angie beams.

“Such a sweet child. What’re you doing here?”

“My dad asked me to spend a few days here to help me with my MIT application.”

“Isn’t it a little early for you to be worrying about that? Aren’t you still in elementary school?” one of the men asks.

“I’m a special case,” Anne says defensively.

“Must be some big-shot dad to get you a gig here,” a petite woman comments.

“I should think so,” Anne snips. “His name is on the building.”

Pepper takes her hand and pulls her back to the office, the entire way holding back her laughter at their shocked faces.

“Is Tony going to be angry?”

“Tony going to think it’s hilarious. He appreciates the work they do but has never liked how much time they spend talking about each other. He’s always thought they were kind of vicious.”

Anne settles back down with the tablet, wondering if that’s what Pepper had in mind when she wanted to leave the office for entertainment.

“We’ll go talk to some more people soon, I promise.”

Anne nods and starts to read again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, apologies.


	18. Anna Banana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ultron

Anne feels bad for how relieved she feels when Tony arrives. She knows it’s not Peppers fault that she’s busy, but she’s bored and itching for something interesting to do. Tony provides exactly that.  
“Come on then, Anne. Let’s go blow stuff up!”  
“Tony,” Pepper earns.  
“Ok, Ok. Maybe just one explosion?”  
Anne laughs at the look on Peppers face, and then hugs her goodbye on impulse.  
“See you later,” she calls as she skips out of the room. “Assuming I don’t get blown up.”  
“Ah, I see why it’s not funny,” Tony says, steering her towards the elevator. “I’ll keep her safe, Peo. I promise.”  
Pepper is still shaking her head as they leave. Tony begins explaining his plans in depth, and it sounds like they have a long exciting afternoon ahead of them. Anne can hardly wait.  
“Now, first you need to change into something more workshop appropriate,” Tony says, pointing to a bathroom. “Pepper will murder me if I let you ruin a perfectly good suit.”  
Anne changes quickly, putting on a set of red and yellow overalls. She pulls her hair into a tight knot and then steps back into the hallway, only to find Tony on his phone, looking very serious.  
“Get the quintet ready,” he orders the person on the phone. “I’ll have a suit sent. Meet you on the roof in five.”  
He hangs up and looks at Anne apologetically.  
“Anne, I’m so sorry, but they’ve got a mission in Eastern Europe and I need to go.”  
“That’s ok. I understand,” Anne says, trying smile like it doesn’t bother her. “You’re a hero. Gotta do hero things. Just... be safe?”  
Tony hugs her tightly.  
“I will, but my absence doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. JARVIS, tell Price that Anne is coming. Tell him to show her all the cool stuff, but that if he lets her get hurt, he’ll regret it.”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“JARVIS will give you directions. Sorry, Anne. I’ll make it up to you.”  
Tony gives her a hasty kiss on the forehead and runs back to the elevator. Anne watches him leave, chewing her lip nervously. She startled when JARVIS talks.  
“Young miss, if you’ll follow the lights?”  
Anne looks down and sees that small floor lights against the wall have lit up.  
“Thanks Mr Jarvis. You’re the best. Hey! You’re like my big brother, right?”  
“I am.”  
“That’s pretty cool.”  
“I agree.”  
Anne continues to follow her brothers directions through the building until they reach a door with a tall man stood outside of it.  
“Anne, I presume?” he says with a warm smile.  
“Yes.”  
“I’m Price.”  
She shakes his hand and feels and unexpected rush of warmth. He seems really nice already. She’s never instinctively trusted someone before. Except Tony, Pepper, and Jarvis.  
“Tony said to do cool stuff, but safe stuff. Those two things are vastly different in my opinion but we’ll see what we can put together.”  
Anne follows him into the lab and Marvels at the sheer size of the room and the overwhelming amount of machinery and things.  
“Yeah, it’s awesome right?”  
Anne grins up at Mr Prince.  
“I’m the head of the robotic division, which is a little like being a pointless clone. Nothing I do will be even close to the stuff that Tony builds, but he’s nice enough to not mention it.”  
Anne laughs, but she’s not sure if she should. It’s not a particularly nice thing to say about oneself, but he doesn’t seem to mean it. She figures it’s Ok to not say anything.  
“I’ll give you a quick tour, introduce you to my crew, and then I’m sure we can put our heads together to find something worth our time.”  
~  
It’s almost illegal how much fun Anne has with Price and his team. They’re all funny, clever and don’t get weird when she becomes defensive after a question about her past.  
She’s almost disappointed when Pepper comes by to collect her.  
“Bye Anne!” They call as she leaves. “Come back any time!”  
Anne waves, beaming.  
“You look like you had fun,” Pepper says.  
“I did!” Anne gushes. “First, he introduced me to everyone, and they were all super nice and kinda nerdy. Then, when I told them about MIT, they said they’d make some calls and they did, and they’re still considering my application - which is good! And then they pushed all the desks together and they gave me a robot and large sheet of blueprint paper and helped me take it apart and note down the schematics. Then, they let me ask them questions about it, and we started to plan my next robot. Mr Jarvis, sent us a copy of what I already had!”  
“Tony likes those guys. I’m glad you do too. Now, since Tony’s our and we have the tower to ourselves, what do you say to attempting some baking?”  
“Ooh, yeah!”  
Anne can’t help but feel like she’s having the best day. Even with the disappointment of Tony leaving, she’s had so much fun. She doesn’t want it to end. When they get to the tower, Pepper instructs Anne to shower and meet her in the kitchen in one hour.  
Anne rushes through it, not wanting to waste a second of the day doing boring things like washing.  
“Now,” Pepper says, turning the music on and looking over the table covered in ingredients. “What shall we wreck the kitchen making?”  
Anne shrugs. She doesn’t know what to bake, only that she wants to bake something.  
“Let’s start with a cake, and after, we’ll attempt some bread, yeah?”  
Anne nods, and an hour later, they’re both covered in flour and decorating a large cake while eating for the bread to rise.  
“This is gonna taste like a rainbow on acid,” Anne says excitedly. “I hope Tony likes it.”  
“Tony will eat anything with sugar in it. He’s like a toddler. Though, he and Clint are as bad as each other. I don’t know how they’re not rotting from the inside out.”  
Anne laughs and nods.  
~  
When Anne goes to bed that evening, she’s so happy she can barely sleep.  
“Mr Jarvis, can you remind me of everything we did today?”  
“Certainly, young miss.”  
Jarvis goes trough the day, starting from when she woke up all the way until now.  
“Do you have fun, Mr Jarvis?” She asks, suddenly overcome with curiosity.  
“I am no designed to have fun, but I am capable of feeling something similar to happiness.”  
“Did you feel happy today?”  
“I did.”  
“Good: I guess if I’m here forever, I can grow up with you right? Do you grow up? Can you?”  
“The circuits in which my... conscious is stores. They will become outdated, and my coding will continually improve, so it will never get old, physically. Sir will always make sure I am running at 100%. In mind, though, I believe I will age much like you.”  
“Cool.”  
“Yes.”  
Anne falls asleep smiling that night.  
~  
“Morning, young miss.”  
Anne stretches, yawns and flowers at the ceiling.  
“A normal brother would call me by my name,” she says.  
“False. A normal brother would call you things you didn’t like. Anna Banana, for example.”  
“Don’t call me that. That’s stupid.”  
“Sorry, Anna Banana. My protocols have been updated to include Big Brother interactions.”  
Anne frowns, not sure what she’s just gotten herself into.  
“Is... is dad back?”  
It feels weird to say it, but she thinks that if she keeps trying, it’ll feel natural.  
“He returned this morning with Dr Cho.”  
Anne throws on a large jumper and jogging bottoms and heads towards the labs. She finds Clint in a weird machine and Bruce looking over a strange blue light box.  
“Anne!” Tony calls.  
Somethings wrong. Anne can see it. There’s something behind his smile that is off. But she decides to play along. She can figure out what it is later.   
“How’d the mission go?” She asks, hugging him back.  
He notices when her eyes drift over to Clint.  
“It was good. Clint was just being bad at his job as usual.”  
“Cut it, Stark,” Clint calls. “I might have a hole in my stomach, but I can still take you down.”  
“See? He’s fine.”  
“What’s that?” she asks, pointing to the blue box.  
“Oh, I see how it is. I’m stuck here with a serious injury and you’re more interested in the shiny blue box?” Clint groans.  
“Stop whining or you’ll make it worse,” Natasha warns, appearing at the side of an unfamiliar woman.  
“Is this Anne?” The woman’s asks, coming out to meet them.  
“Really? The kid shows up and suddenly my HOLY STOMACH isn’t as interesting?”  
Anne sticks her tongue out at Clint and he returns it, equally as childishly.  
“I’m Dr Cho,” the woman says, holding her hand out. “I created the cradle, which helps regenerate skin tissue.”  
Anne almost forgets to take the woman’s hand as she gapes at the machine.  
She quickly shakes and the goes up to the large white contraption, he hands hovering over, too scared to touch.  
“Kid, if you mess this machine up and I get three extra livers, were gonna have a problem.”  
Anne looks down and sees the damage. She sucks in a sharp breath.  
“Are you ok?” She asks, suddenly worried. “That looks really bad!”  
“See, this is the attention that I need!” Clint calls to Natasha. “I’m fine, I promise. Dr Cho has created something incredible, so I’ll be all set soon.”  
Anne bites her lips unsure, and then looks to Dr Cho.  
“He’s right. It won’t take long for him to heal.”  
“Anne, I need to go work on something with Bruce, but there’s a party in two days. Dr Cho is staying, aren’t you?”  
“Some of us have to work,” She admonishes, before pausing. “Is Thor going to be there?”  
Anne snickers and Dr Cho winks at her.  
“Why don’t you guys go hang out?” Tony suggests.  
“Can we please wait until Clint is whole again?” Clint calls.  
Dr Cho and Natasha both roll their eyes but they don’t move from his side. Anne leans up against the wall and watched Tony and Bruce as they talk animatedly and walk around the box.  
Bruce looks distinctly uncomfortable about something, whereas Tony seems to be explaining something important.  
There’s a hesitancy to Tony that she’s never seen before. A lack of comfort that is bothering him. He seems unhinged somehow.  
She wonders if it’s just the aftermath of a mission where one of his teammates got hurt, and it’s such a plausible idea that she runs with it.  
~   
Tony hasn’t left the lab. It’s been two days, and he hasn’t left. Neither has Bruce. She’s tried talking to Tony, but she might as well have not been there. She tried to talk to Bruce but he was preoccupied too.  
So, she turns to Steve. She’s still annoyed at him, but she figures if anyone can help Tony with whatever issues he’s having, it’s the team leader.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Book should be out soon, so the chapter should will be longer next week


	19. No strings on me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ultron is coming

“Steve?” Anne knocks on the kitchen table, not wanting to startle him. “Uh, I mean, Mr Rogers?”

“Anne! Hello.”

Steve turns around looking awkward and smiles at Anne as he wipes his hands down his black apron, leaving a smear of white flour. Anne shifts from foot to foot, twisting her fingers in the sleeve of her jumper. She feels like she’s going behind Tony’s back, but she did _try_ to talk to him. She tried to talk to Bruce, too. But something is wrong and she needs to do whatever she can to help.

“Mr America, can I talk to you about something?”

Steve sighs at the name but doesn’t say anything. He just nods and gestures for her to sit down. She hesitates for a second and then concedes.

“Somethings wrong with Tony.”

Steve blinks, confused, and then smiles wryly.

“You’re only just noticing?”

“Mr Rogers, I’m serious. Somethings going on, and he’s locking himself away, and he’s ignoring me.”

“Anne, none of this is unusual. Before you came along, Tony would hide in his lab for days. He’d miss meals, subsist on only coffee, and forget the world existed.”

“This is different,” Anne insists. “He’s not just losing himself to his work, he’s _suffering._ Something happened on that mission. Something has shaken him up.”

“Nothing happened. It was a standard mission.”

Anne frowns because she isn’t sure if Steve is lying to her or if she’s imagining things.

“Look, Anne, it’s natural for you to be worried about him. He’s your… dad. But I’m serious. It was a normal mission. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.”

“And Tony was with you the entire time?”

Steve frowns.

“Well, no. Tony is our best tech guy, so he went in to grab the spectre while we were neutralising the threat.”

“So something could have happened, and you’re just certain that it didn’t?”

Anne can see the muscles in his jaw tightening, and she stands up and backs away. She knows when someone is getting angry enough to hurt her. She’s seen it a million times.

“Anne?”

Her eyes trail over him, looking for impending signs of attack. His hands aren’t balled into fists, his shoulders aren’t stiff, his eyes aren’t flashing red.

“Anne, I’m not going to hit you,” he says, shocked. “I promise.”

“If he were to try, Anna Banana, I would incapacitate him immediately.”

Anne relaxes at the sound of Jarvis’ voice, but she doesn’t step any closer to Steve. She watches him warily.

“There’s no one else who can help.”

Steve sighs.

“I’ll see if I can talk to him, OK?” Steve promises. “If something’s wrong, I’ll help him.”

Anne is glad that Steve is finally taking her seriously, but she can’t quite put it into words. She whispers a thanks and runs to the elevator, where JARVIS takes her to her own floor. Dr Cho and Pepper are there talking, but they both stop to look up at Anne as she steps out.

“Hi,” she says, trying to sound like she didn’t just sic Steve on Tony. “Uh… s’up?”

“You asked Steve to check on Tony, didn’t you?” Pepper asks.

Anne freezes.

“You’re not in trouble Anne, honestly. I was about to do the same thing. Him and Bruce are being awfully strange. Tony is completely oblivious to everything except the Tesseract project. Even Bruce is completely lost to it, and he’s the one who has the most success dragging Tony out.”

Anne flops onto the sofa next to Pepper.

“I’m not just being paranoid, right? Somethings up!”

“He’s often withdrawn into his lab, but something is different this time. He’s got a weird look in his eyes.”

“Do you think it has something to do with the tesseract? I’ve heard it’s had negative effects on them in the past,” Cho adds. “I’ve heard about the spat on the hellicarrier.”

“What spat?” Anne asks, sitting up.

“I’ll tell you about it later,” Pepper says. “It might be that, or it might be something else, but either way, I don’t think it will end well. I’ll talk to Tony after the party, but I’m going to be camping at the office for the next few days.”

“Can I come with you?” Anne asks.

She knows it’ll be boring, but when she learnt she was expected at the party, all of her social anxiety flooded, and she’s been slowly freaking out about it.

“Don’t worry, Anne. I have a dress for you to wear, and you’ll be safe. I promise. The whole team will be there.”

Anne trusts the team, mostly. She knows Tony wouldn’t leave her in a situation she doesn’t feel comfortable in, and Thor would save her from any danger, but there will be a lot of people there that she doesn’t know. It’ll be daunting.

“Anne, would you like me to invite Michelangelo?”

She considers it for a second. It’ll be nice to have someone her own age there, and it’ll also give her someone to latch onto so she’s out of the way. But she also doesn’t want to drag him into it. He might not even want to come. What if it makes him awkward, and he doesn’t want to tutor her anymore? Or worse, what if he thinks she likes him and takes some liberties?

“No, it’s ok.”

Peppers analytic stare washes over her and even Dr Cho seems to know something is wrong.

“Honestly. I don’t need a playmate,” she says. “Mr Jarvis will be there, right?”

“Yes, Anna Banana. I’ll be there.”

Pepper looks bemused at Anne’s new nickname, but Anne just rolls her eyes at it.

“I’ve heard there are a few Korean restaurants in the area. Have either of you had Korean BBQ before?”

 

~

The party is an hour away, and Anne has been at the bar with Clint for twenty minutes. She’s been grilling him about his past missions.

“Just tell me what happened in Budapest!” she begs.

“Nope.”

“Come on, please!”

“Never. That’s a secret that I’ll take with me to the grave.”

“I thought you were the cool Uncle,” Anne mutters.

Clint gasps.

“Did you just call me Uncle?”

Anne pauses her melodramatic to see if he’s upset by this, but he has a smile forming on his lips.

“Fine, I’ll tell you, if you promise to keep calling me uncle.”

“Deal,” she says, shaking his hand.

“If you tell her one sentence about Budapest, I will chop your fingers off and feed them to Tony’s bots.”

Clint scoffs, but Natasha picks up a knife and runs a finger along the blade, with her eyes staring into Clint’s soul.

“Ok!” he concedes, gulping. “Fine.”

Natasha grins, and Clint turns to face Anne.

“You’ll still call me Uncle, right?”

“Maybe,” Anne shrugs.

Clint groans and turns doeful eyes on Natasha.

“You’re calling Clint Uncle instead of Grandad Barton?” Tony asks, appearing behind Anne. “You’re missing prime ‘pissing off Clint’ opportunity there.”

“Hindsight is a bitch,” Clint laughs. “No take-backsies!”

“I’m glad you’re teaching my kid your valuable bargaining skills.”

Tony looks at the drink in Anne’s hand and then takes it. He sips at it hesitantly, pauses, and then gives it back.

“Good. If any of you give Anne alcohol, I will kick you out of my tower and make sure you never see her again.”

“Like we’d give a kid alcohol,” Clint scoffs. “What do you think we are? Monsters?”

“Why can the girl not enjoy a mighty warriors drink?” Thor asks, coming to join them at the bar. “A simple drink with friends is a wonderful thing!”

“Someone keep Thor away from my daughter please!” Tony calls over his shoulder. “I have guests to welcome.”

“Bruce, my man, We’ve been charged with the task of keeping Anne sober,” Clint calls as Bruce steps into the room.

“Who would give a fourteen-year-old alcohol?”

“I was far younger when I was gifted my first drink!” Thor exclaims. “It was a worthy day, and an honour.”

“I see,” Bruce nods. “Thor, when you say ‘much younger’ do you mean you were a child?”

“Nay. I was a grown warrior, but in earth years, I would have been twelve.”

Bruce frowns.

“I’d like to go over the maths for that,” Bruce says. “But it the meantime, don’t feed the child alcohol.”

“Why do none of you trust me to just avoid it on my own?” Anne whines. “I’ve turned down Thors beer before, you know.”

“ _Thor!”_ Clint says, shocked. “No one should leave the kid alone with you again. You’re not a cool Uncle. You’re a bad influence Uncle.”

“I’m not sure how many of your words are offensive, Son of Barton, but I will happily challenge you to a battle to see who is the best ‘Uncle’.”

“Sorry guys,” Rhodey says, as he joins the circle at the bar. “I’m taking her to Disney world. If anyone is the coolest Uncle, it’s me.”

“Perhaps you would like to prove that in battle, naive warrior?”

“War machine could kick your butt any day,” Rhodey grins.

“Oh, you cannot truly believe that!” Thor booms. “I could run you in a matter of seconds!”

“Boys, pull your pants up, OK? This kind of behaviour is doing little to teach my favourite niece how grown-ups should act.”  
Clint wraps an arm around Anne’s shoulder and covers her ears, as though protecting her from what has already happened.

“Anne, Pepper asked me to check whether you had gotten ready,” Dr Cho stops at Anne’s side. “Oh. Hi, Thor.”

Anne giggles and Dr Cho frowns at her and gently guides her away.

“You should have gotten dressed first,” Dr Cho chides. “Why would you come to a party without your dress on?”

Anne shoots Dr Cho a disbelieving look.

“Have you seen the dress? I’ll look like Alice in Wonderland!”

“I think it’s adorable,” Dr Cho says.

“I don’t want to look ‘adorable’ I want to look cool,” Anne complains.

“Pepper will be really happy if you wear it,” Cho tells her.

“And I’ve heard that line from pimps before,” Anne says.

Dr Cho gives her a terrified look but doesn’t stop ushering Anne towards her room. When they get there, Anne sees the offending article, she groans. It’s baby blue with a horrendous white collar and a large white bow that wraps around the waist. With it are a pair of black ballet pumps and white knee length socks.

“Oh, I see what you mean,” Dr Cho says.

“You didn’t even see it?”

“No. I just assumed.”

Anne rolls her eyes and then moves to get dressed in the bathroom. She brushes her hair out, pulls on the socks up. She looks herself over in the mirror and sighs. She really does look like she’s about to fall down a damned rabbit hole.

“You look sweet,” Dr Cho says, taking the silk ribbon and wrapping it around her waist. “There’s another for your hair.”

“No. I’m not going to let it go that far,” Anne says. “I look ridiculous enough already.”

Dr Cho laughs and guides her back to the party. Anne stays a few steps behind, not wanting anyone to see her dressed up like a doll. She knows it would only hurt Peppers feelings if she refused to wear it, but she truly feels ridiculous in this outfit.

“Anne, you look lovely,” Bruce says, as she steps back into the room.

There are considerably more people now, all of them adults, all of them with drinks in their hands, and none of them looking like a character from a Lewis Carroll novel. She feels like a sore thumb.

“I look stupid,” Anne complains, scuffing the ground with her shoes.

“You don’t trust me,” Natasha adds. “You look wonderful.”

Anne shrugs. She doesn’t know if they’re being sincere or if they’re just saying it because they feel they have to.

“Oh, I didn’t know this was a dress up party!” Clint shouts as he vaults over the bar to stand in front of them. “Little Alice, would you like a drink to get bigger or smaller?”

Natasha smacks him around the head, and he rubs it with a scowl.

“What?”

“Anne is feeling very self-conscious right now, and you’re making it worse.”

Anne frowns and wraps her arms around herself, in a vain attempt to cover herself up.

“I was just joking, Anne. You look cute.”

Anne throws her head back with exasperation and turns away. She doesn’t know who to annoy, and she doesn’t want to be under anyone’s feet.

She looks around at all the faces, those familiar and those not. On the ledge, there are several elderly men drinking and laughing, and she can see Steve talking to the dude she saw on TV. The one with the wings. She sees Clint walking to the side to take a phone call. Rhodey is animatedly telling a story to Thor, Tony, Rhodey, and Maria Hill.

She realises now that thinking JARVIS would be there was ridiculous. She imagines he’s watching over them all, but it’s far too crowded and noisy for them to interact. That sucks. She was really hoping to have him around.

“Hey, little duckie,” Tony says, putting a hand on her shoulder, making her jump.

How long has she been standing there without watching?

“How’re you doing?”

“Considerably worst since you called me ‘little duckie’. What’s that about?”

Tony smirks at her.

“Cute dress. Pepper pick it out for you?”

Anne nods sadly, and Tony throws his head back with a roaring laugh.

“Pepper always did love Alice,” he snickers. “I bet she’s gutted that she can’t see you in it. But -Hey! Rhodes, c’mere.”

Rhodey, who was talking to a pretty woman in a black dress, turns to Tony looking unimpressed. He smiles when he sees Anne and invites the woman over with him.

“Elena, meet Tony and Anne. Anne and Tony, meet Elena.”

The three of them shake hands, and then the woman bends her knees slightly so that she’s on level with Anne.

“Aren’t you adorable?” the woman croons. “You must be Anne?”

She sounds like she’s talking to a puppy, and Anne’s eyes flicker towards Tony and Rhodey, who’re both hiding smiles behind their hands.

“Oh, you’re a shy one, aren’t you?”

“No,” Anne says, offended. “It’s just not often I get a stranger talking down to me like I’m a two-year-old.”

The woman seems offended by this revelation but hides it behind a plastic smile and a high-pitched giggle.

“So sweet.”

“Uh, I was wondering if you could take a photo of Anne and I for Pepper?” Tony asks Rhodey loudly.

Anne is certain that he can sense her impending break-down of politeness.

“A selfie!” the woman cries, pulling Anne in for a tight hug. “Excellent plan.”

Anne is stiff as the woman fishes a phone from her bag and holds it up in front of the two of them and snaps a picture. Anne doesn’t smile, but she does desperately look at Tony, silently begging him to save her.

“Right, I was hoping for a photo of myself and Anne, actually."

The woman giggles and pushes Rhodey next to Anne, while Tony takes up the other side. Anne is disgusted to see Rhodey wink at the woman but smiles when the photo is taken. If anything, she doesn’t want to let Pepper down.

“Mr Stark!” someone shouts, waving an arm at Tony. “I would like to talk to you about the stock prices –”

Anne tunes out as Tony kisses her on the top of the head and walks over to the man.

“I need to go tell some people a story, Anne. Want to join me? I reckon you’re not so jaded that it’ll be boring to you.”

Anne, with nothing better to do, shrugs and follows him as he finds a group of people sat down on the couches.

“Colonel Rhodes!” one of the women shouts, jumping up and giving him a salute.

Rhodes grins and tells her to relax.

Anne settles herself down on the sofa and curls her legs underneath herself.

Rhodey starts to tell the story, and when he gets to the end (‘and I was like, boom, were you looking for this?) Anne politely laughs while Rhodey looks deeply impressed with himself.

“Hey, you’re Anne, right?”

Anne turns to face the woman next to her and nods slowly.

“I’m Jessica,” she introduces, holding out her hand. “I work at the company. You met my husband, I believe. Mr Price?”

Anne nods again.

“He said you were very smart. Very intuitive with robotics.”

Anne smiles a little at the praise.

“What do you think of the party?” she asks, conversationally.

“It’s OK,” Anne replies. “I haven’t really been to a lot of parties, so this is a little out of my comfort zone.”

“Oh, me too. I hate being around so many people I don’t know. I don’t know why I let my husband talk me into it. He had to work late, so he couldn’t even come with and keep me company.”

“That sucks. Mr Price is pretty cool.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that,” Jessica laughs. “His ego will grow so big that he won’t be able to walk through the door to our apartment.”

Anne laughs, even though she doesn’t think that Mr Price has an ego.

“Miss Anne.”

Anne looks up, startled, to find Captain America stood next to her, offering a hand.

“May I have this dance?”

Anne is pretty sure that the music currently playing isn’t your typical ‘dance with a dude from the forties’ song, but she says goodbye to Jessica and takes Mr Rodgers hand anyway.

“I’m not a very good dancer,” Anne warns him.

“Oh good. Me too.”

Anne laughs as Mr Rodgers attempts to spin her and she loses her balance. He catches her before she lands on her arse, and they both laugh.

It still feels awkward between them, but she lets the awkwardness go for a while as she tries to understand what her feet are supposed to be doing.

“Steve, you dance like you have two left feet,” Natasha admonishes.

“I do have two left feet,” he says, dejectedly. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Here, let me dance with her,” Natasha says, stepping in and taking Anne’s hands. “Let me lead, just watch what my feet are doing and follow, OK?”

Anne is considerably more nervous to dance with Natasha since the woman has a dancers body and grace. Anne is going to fail miserably.

“Anxiety isn’t going to make it easier,” Natasha tells her.

Anne huffs out an awkward laugh and then starts to follow Natasha’s feet. She feels like she’s getting it, even though she still stumbles every few minutes.

“My go!” Clint calls.

“Clint, you can’t dance,” Natasha laughs.

“Not the point. I want to dance with the most adorable kid here.”

“I’m the only ‘kid’ here,” Anne points out.

“Not when Tony and Clint are around,” Natasha laughs.

“Come on, let's see how rusty my dance shoes are,”

It turns out Clint’s dance shoes weren’t rusty at all, and Natasha makes a joke about a wedding she attended a few years ago, and how he’s definitely improved since. Clint’s eye twinkle with mystery and Anne wonders if this happened in Budapest, too.

“Save a dance for your old man,” Tony says.

Anne, despite expectations, has an amazing night. Not only does she discover that with the exception of Steve and Bruce, everyone can dance really well, but she also notices that Natasha and Bruce have some kind of weird relationship thing going on. She watches them talking at the bar as she tries to keep herself awake.

She must have drifted off, because the next thing she knows, she waking up to a conversation about Mjolnir and watching everyone try to lift it. Like Natasha, she refused to even try. She doesn’t care to know whether or not she can lift it.

It’s such a shame when things start to go to shit. It’s not often she gets to have fun and briefly forget about the horrors that the world outside offers.

_“I’ve got no strings on me.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there's a new book coming out that I wanted to do a tiny bit of promoting for.  
> It's about superhumans and their duties ass superheroes, but it covers issues like BLM and LGBTQ+. It's a really interesting fantastical view of society and the way it works etc.  
> It's not out until the 10th of November, but I definitely think it's worth your time!
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K4TTH1P/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1541212252&sr=1-1&keywords=a+daily+convenience
> 
>  
> 
> It takes nine years for them to discover his secret.  
> It takes a day for his world to fall apart.
> 
> Lucas Martin isn’t the socially awkward accountant you think he is. He’s actually the much anticipated superhuman, destined to save the world. But what if he doesn’t want to? What if he wants to be the socially awkward accountant?  
> Sadly, fate doesn’t care about what he wants.
> 
> Please check it out!


	20. Army Vampire Strippers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kinda a grim chapter that I had to make funny somehow.

“I’ve got no strings on me.”

Tony throws himself in front of Anne as a broken droid stumbles through the large lounge area. It has sparks coming from exposed wiring across the entire body, but Anne can’t help but feel that there’s something scarily human about it.

“Ultron,” Bruce whispers in awe-filled fear.

“What?” Steve hisses.

“It’s… we created him,” Tony says, looking at the droid with trepidation.

“I had to kill the other guy. Shame. He was a nice guy.”

Anne’s grip on Tony’s arm tightens, and Natasha moves to help shield Anne from view. Anne was scared enough that she didn’t feel like she was being coddled.

“Who did you kill?” Steve asked.

With almost no discernible kick-off, the room erupts into a fight, and Anne is picked up and carried over to be the bar by Rhodey.

“Stay down!” he orders. “I’ll cover you.”

Anne nods, eyes wide, and Rhodey leaves her on her own.

The fight continues, and she hears Rhodey being taken out. Panicked, she wonders if she should stay or try to help Rhodey out of the way.

The decision is made for her when Hill makes her way into the bar, dragging Rhodey along with her. He looks bloodied up, but he’s breathing and that’s good. She’s about to crawl over and offer a helping hand, but at the exact second, a different robot appears above the bar.

Anne screams.

The robot reaches down and grabs her with an arm around her waist. He lifts up from the ground and the wind streaming in her ears drowns out the shouts from Tony and the Avengers. The robot smashes through the ceiling, all Anne knew then was darkness.

 

~

 

Tony is trying his hardest not to panic. They were still very much under attack, and his suit wasn’t functional enough to fly but someone had taken his daughter and he was helpless.

“Stark, snap out of it,” Barton orders, as several arrows fly towards Ultron. “We’ll save her, I promise, but you need your head in this game.”

It is hard, but he lifts his repulsor covered hand an aims it at his creation. He let it blast, but the damage was minimal. Ultron simply melted his consciousness out of the robot and disappeared.

“Thor,” Tony begs, instantly.

Thor doesn’t need much more than that, and in a flash, his hammer is dragging him through the hole in the ceiling, hopefully after Anne.

“What the _hell_ just happened?” Clint hisses, looking around at the destruction.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Hill agrees.

Tony isn’t paying attention. He’s seen Rhodey now, and has fallen on his knees by his prone body. There’s blood trickling down his scalp. Tony tears off a part of his shirt and presses it against the flow. He’s not a medical genius, as much as he’d like to be right now. Soft sciences has never been his strong point, but he understands the basics.

“Tones?”

Rhodey’s eyes slowly open up, and he winces in pain.

“S’up, honey bear? You took a nasty hit to the head there. Maybe if it wasn’t so big, it wouldn’t be a target?”

“Yeah, well, your ego rubs off on me.”

Rhodey grins, but when Tony doesn’t return it, he looks around in a panic.

“Where is she?”

Tony shakes his head, unable to say it out loud.

“Shit, Tony. I was… I tried to protect her, but one of the droids got the drop on me and… _fuck_.”

“Thor has gone after her,” Steve says, offering Rhodey a hand.

Rhodey comes to his feet unsteadily, and Tony funnels all of his energy into him, knowing that if he lets it stray even the slightest, he’ll be dragged down a nightmare path where he imagines all the horrible things that could be happening to Anne. He can’t break down right now. He needs to keep it together for his team.

“Someone needs to explain exactly what happened,” Steve says, looking between Tony and Bruce. “In detail.”

“First, we should find out who he killed,” Dr Cho says. “I may still have the chance to save them.”

They all start walking towards Tony’s lab. There’s a horrible sinking feeling in Tony’s gut. He doesn’t know who Ultron killed, but he has a suspicion, and the lump in his throat is pushing the words down, stopping him from voicing them.

“There was no one else in the tower.”

Without a word, he walks over to the centre and taps the remote against the empty air, conjuring up a broken orb of JARVIS’s coding.

“Not true,” Tony chokes out. “JARVIS was here.”

Rhodey moves to Tony’s side and puts a grounding hand on his shoulder.

“This wasn’t just anger. This was a mindless attack. This was done in _fear_ ,” Bruce says, walking around JARVIS’s body.

In a clap of thunder, Thor returns, and before Tony even has the chance to ask about Anne, Thor has his hand wrapped around Tony’s throat. The team shout out, but Tony’s attention focuses on the pure anger in Thor’s eyes. If Anne is dead, he supposes that now is the time he should be dying too.

“What did you do?” Thor demands.

Tony smacks his hand, trying to choke out his reply.

Thor drops him to the floor, where Tony crumples, rubbing the now sore spot. He glares up at Thor.

“Anne?”

Thor straightens his shoulders.

“I lost their trail over Texas.”

Feeling drains out of Tony’s body.

“She’s gone?”

“We’ll find her,” Rhodey says, moving to Tony’s side. “We _will._ ”

Tony can’t quite convince himself of that. All he knows right now is that someone has his daughter, and he doesn’t know where she is or what’s happening to her. He’s terrified for her life, and confused about how it all went down.

Ultron was supposed to _help_ people. He was supposed to protect them, keep them safe. All the Avengers to disband and watch the world right itself. But that’s not what’s going to happen now.

“Ultron wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he says, turning to Bruce. “We didn’t even… it wasn’t even functional. We weren’t even _close_.”

“Obviously we were,” Bruce argues. “Ultron didn’t just spring to life on its own.”

Despite there being nothing funny about their current predicament, Tony finds himself laughing. His teammates look stunned and angry, but Tony just keeps laughing.

“This wasn’t us,” he explains. “We vastly underestimated the power of the sceptre.”

“You think this funny?” Thor asks, incredulously.

“No,” Tony promises. “Except… yes. Because we’re doing exactly what it wants us to do.”

“And what’s that?”

“Arguing.”

“What should we be doing?” Steve asks.

“Working together to defeat Ultron. We don’t know what he’s after, but we know what he has. Anne. And I won’t stand for someone hurting my kid.”

Clint looks oddly understanding of this, but before Tony has the chance to question why this may be, Bruce is talking again.

“I’ve gone through all signs that Ultron may be anywhere, and I see that he’s looking for something is a place called, uh,” Bruce butchers the name several times but finally; “Wakanda? What’s in Wakanda?”

Tony and Steve both look towards the shield.

“Vibranium. Strongest metal on earth.”

“Well, that can’t be good.”

“It’s not. He might be trying to make a body out of it,” Tony speculates. “Whatever his intentions, we can assume it’ll come to blows.”

“We can use this to find him, though,” Bruce says. “Let’s get to work.”

 

~

Anne sits up on the cold concrete ground and looks around her immediate area. She can’t see anything she recognises, nor does she hear any familiar noises. Which means she has no idea where she is, though she has a suspicion about how she got there.

“Hello?”

Her voice echoes through the cavernous room and assaults her own ear drums. She can smell damp and what she thinks is oil. Probably an old factory. Which means something must be in this room to help her escape, be it as a weapon, or a lock-pick.

She shakily pushes herself up and tries to tip-toe towards the other side of the room, but a loud, large, clanking metal chain attached to her ankle makes her fall to her knees. She tries to tug at the chain, but it does nothing.

“Ah, look at you,” a cold female voice startles Anne, and she lets go of the chain. “Strange that a child of a murderer has the ability to look so innocent.”

Anne looks up to see a red-haired woman walking towards her. Next to her is a silver-haired boy.

“Um, thank you?”

“No, thank _you_. I very much look forward to tearing you apart in front of Tony Stark. He will finally feel the pain inflicted on us.”

“Oh. No thank you. Hard pass on that one. Maybe we can schedule it for another time?”

“You’re brave, little one,” the boy smirks. “A commendable trait, but one that will teach you nothing.”

“You guys realise that you kidnapped me from the _Avengers_ , right? You won’t win. You can’t win. They beat _aliens,_ for gods sake.”

Anne hopes she sounds confident, but she’s so scared that her back is prickling with sweat.

“We can win. We will win. And you want to know why? Because we have the one thing Tony Stark wants.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?”

“The upper hand.”

Anne scowls since she’s absolutely powerless to do anything else.

“She’s like a disgruntled lion cub. So cute.” The red-haired on strokes a hand down Anne’s cheek, trailing red behind.

Anne is frozen with shock, unable to do anything as she witnesses real-life magic that is from _earth_. Not Asgard. Not some other unknown realm. Earth.

“Confused? I image you weren’t even aware this was possible.”

The woman snaps her arm across the room, and a large machine encased in a red glow flies across the room in sync with her movements. It crashes against the wall, and Anne flinches despite herself. The girls grin widens.

“Don’t torture the poor girl.”

Anne twists to face the new voice and is overcome by a new level of fear as the no-longer broken droid walks into the room and stops near them.

~

They all jump on board the Quinjet the instant they manage to recover information pertaining to the whereabouts of Ultron, and hopefully, Anne.

Tony is almost sick with anticipation of seeing his daughter again, and he can see that the others are equally as anxious.

“Right, team, here’s the plan,” Steven says as he unbuckles his seat-belt. “We go in as a single unit, and focus out attack on Ultron. If there are any other contenders, Tony and I will remain working against Ultron. Clint and Natasha and Thor will organise themselves accordingly. Bruce, you will remain here unless we call for a code green. Understood?”

The team nod and make quiet noises of affirmation, but Tony remains silent. He know that it’ll likely come to blows, and he’s terrified of Anne being caught in the cross-fire. If he sees her, he;s going to fall off Steve’s plan instantly, and grab her. She should have been dragged into this, and if he can help it, she’ll be home soon and out of harms ways.

“We’re here,” Clint announces, as the Quinjet starts to make its descent.

Tony takes a deep breath, ready to face whatever Ultron has in store for them.

~

“So young. So frightened. Such unfortunate collateral,” the droid says as he moves towards her.

Everything about this robot screams dangerous and psychotic, but his voice is hypnotically gentle. It sounds almost regretful that they’re in this situation at all, and Anne has to remind herself that he kidnapped her and is currently using her to bait Tony into danger.

Such a shame that Alice’s journey into Wonderland is going to be a fatal one.”

The boy and girl standing over her show a flash of unease, before their faces settle back into that coldness. It’s almost as if they’re uncertain.

“Tony hasn’t done anything wrong!” Anne cries, while also pushing herself back against the wall. “Leave him alone.”

“You think Stark to be innocent?” the girl hisses. “He murdered our parents.”

Anne’s anger catches in her throat. That’s not true, she knows it can’t be, but the girl seems to truly believe it.

“Tony hasn’t done anything wrong!” Anne cries, while also pushing herself back against the wall. “Leave him alone.”

“You think Stark to be innocent?” the girl hisses. “He murdered our parents.”

Anne’s anger catches in her throat. That’s not true, she knows it can’t be, but the girl seems to truly believe it.

“He wouldn’t,” Anne says, earnestly. “Tony is a good person.”

“Now, that’s just ignorant,” the droid says, sounding disgusted and disappointed. “Tony Stark is responsible for thousands of deaths.”

“Indirectly,” Anne insists. “And he withdrew from the weapons game the instant he understood what was being done in his name.”

“He still killed out parents, and many others in our community.”

“His _company_ did. And surely you know that a lot of that was done without his knowledge? His business partner was dealing under his nose.”

“Ignorance does not excuse him.”

“But you’re not ignorant to _this_ ,” Anne reminds him. “How many people have you killed? How many people will die because of your actions? How much collateral will there be in your blind rage to seek revenge for ignorance?”

The girl and boy both go silent and Anne sends them a pleading look. Unfortunately, Ultron decides to remind them of their mission.

“The Avengers are on their way. Now, we can use that monster to tear them apart.”

Ultron walks away, and the scary magic twins follow. Anne stands up and tries to catch them, to beg them not to hurt her family, but the chain brings her to her knees again.

“Please!” she screams. “Please don’t hurt them!”

Unsurprisingly, they don’t turn around, and as they leave, they slam the door, allowing the angry noise reverberates through the almost empty room.

Bile rises in her throat as panic pulses in her stomach.

_They’re going to kill Tony._

The room is almost stiflingly empty, but there are probably a few scraps in the area that she can use to pick the lock.

~

The fight is over, as far as Tony can figure. The Hulk just levelled a city, Natasha, Thor and Steve were all thrown into their own minds and only Clint and Tony came out without a serious injury, physical or mental. But they didn’t come out with Anne, and that… that’s the biggest loss.

“You want me to take the controls there, Legolas?”

“Nah, but if you want to get some kip, now is the time. We have a few hours until we get there.”

“Get where?”

“You’ll see.”

With that less than fruitful conversation with Clint, the general mood of the Quinjet and Tony’s bitter regret, he decides to find a quiet corner to go hate himself in.

_Why do I keep letting everyone down?_

~

Anne is sat on the floor holding a small scrap of metal. Her fingers are cut up and bleeding from the sharp edges, where she has been trying to bend it into shape. It’s not going well, and she can hear gunfire and shouts in the distance. She screams, praying that someone she needs to will hear her. Then she hears the distinct roar that tells her they’ve succeeded. Hulk is out. And now they’ll all be too distracted.

Anne is trying her best to be optimistic. To allow the possibility of being saved motivate her escape attempt, but doubt plagues her mind, casting shadows over the faces of those she considers family.

“Grab her.”

Anne quickly shoves the small slip of metal into the bow of the dress, praying that it’ll stay within the folds and allow her to continue her attempts later on.

Light floods the room as the door slams open. The boy and the girl move in, and Anne strains to get away from them.

“Don’t touch me,” she screams.

“You heard her,” the boy grins. “Don’t _touch_ her.”

The girl raises her hand and a spark of red light attacks the lock on Anne ankle. It falls off, and Anne immediately jumps up and tries to run. She makes it three steps before she’s lifted from her feet and an orb of light surrounds her.

“What the –”

Her words are muffled as a strip of red magic covers her mouth.

“Good idea,” the boy approves.

They both turn their backs on her and start to walk out of the room. The ball she’s trapped in follows behind them, and she’s helpless to stop it.

“Ho do you feel?” the boy asks, peering her sisters face. “You still look very pale.”

“I will recover. And I will seek revenge on Hawkeye for what he did to me.”

Anne desperately wants to know what Hawkeye did, to rub it in their faces that they were in anyway hurt or delayed by the team, but she’s still on mute.

“Despite that small set-back, we have managed to bring down Captain America, Black Widow and Thor. The Hulk will distract Stark, and not only have turned the world against the Avengers, but we have also turned the Avengers against each other. They will not survive.”

Anne is horrified by what she is hearing and has no idea how to combat any of this. She can’t persuade them to better, and she doesn’t have the strength or power to fight against the girl magic.

“Good, you have the prisoner contained. Come, we are going to be taking a trip to Seoul.”

~

“This is a secret agent,” Tony tells the room hopefully his eyes on the heavily pregnant woman.

Clint smirks and kisses the woman. Two children come running in and Tony takes a step back, eyes widening.

“And these are two, tiny agents,” he assures himself, shock diluting reason.

“This is my wife, Laura,” Clint tells them.

“Is Aunt Nat here?” the small girls asks.

“Why don’t you ask her and find out for yourself?” Natasha asks, opening her arms for the children.

“Aunt Nat?” Tony mouths before loudly asking. “What’s going on?”

“My family,” Clint announces. “Fury helped me set it up when I first joined SHEILD.”

“I know who all of you are, obviously,” Laura says, sounding awed.

Tony feels, rather than sees, Thor turn and walk out of the house. Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees Steve follow. He feels stuck. He feels like there’s nothing he can do without making it worse. Bruce moves away, and Natasha follows. Tony remains glued to the ground, frozen, his brain stuttering.

“Look at my Ironman figure.”

Tony startles a little and looks down at the boy in front of him. In his outstretched hand is a plastic replica of Tony’s beloved suits, and he smiles as warmly as he can.

“I’m far taller than that in real life.”

The kid snorts and plops himself down on the floor by Tony’s feet. With the assumption only a child can own, he holds out the Captain America toy and waits for Tony to take it and sit down. Clint watches, a small smile on his face, fond as he looks at his son and a sympathetic one as his eyes slide to Tony. Tony, not quite in the mood to be pitied, sits down too.

“What do you want to play?” the boy asks.

“How about Captain America is locked in a strip-club with vampire women and only Ironman and Hawkeye can save him?”

“What’s a strip-club?”

“You answer that question wisely, Stark,” Clint warns.

“It’s Steve’s favourite place to visit,” Tony says smoothly. “Ironman has never been.”

“Has Hawkeye?”

Tony looks at Clint and winks.

“Probably.”

Clint snorts and rolls his eyes.

“Thanks, Stark, I appreciate that.”

Tony pretends not to hear him and finds the broken house under the chair and pulls it out. He grabs a handful of green army men from a box at the side and throws them in too.

“These are the vampire ladies,” Tony explains, as he arranged them on top of the Captain figure.

“Are they attacking him?” the kid asks, leaning over the house to get a better look.

“They’re making him blush like a dame on her third glass of wine.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, they’re attacking him.”

The boy nods seriously and starts to make the model Steve writhe and cry out for help. Tony smirks.

“Now, Ironman and Hawkeye are busy being awesome,” Tony gives the kid his Dad and pulls a tree over to himself. “They’re saving a cat from the tree, but when Mr America’s girlish screams call us, we hurry to his side.”

The boy laughs and it catches the attention of his sister.

“I want to play!” she calls, skipping over. “I want to play Aunt Nat!”

The boy hands her a frankly absurd and grossly sexualised doll. Tony grimaces. He should do something about that. Fortunately, neither of the children are old enough to understand, and Tony does not bother enlightening them.

Clint and Laura both leave, and Tony immediately falls into the game, sometimes dictating the story, sometimes following orders. The girl has ‘Aunt Nat’ meet them while flying a unicorn, and tires to reason with the vampires. The children periodically take control of the captain to make him scream, and Tony finds it _precious._

“Hawkeye, Mr Ironman, Aunt Nat, I’m so glad you came!” Captain America’s doll says, in a high-pitched voice. “I was being eaten alive by lust and it’s just too much! Save me! Save me!”

Aunt Nat and her trusted unicorn companion fall to the floor as the girl looks at Tony with curious confusion.

“What’s ‘lust’?”

“Just something that Captain America doesn’t like.”

“Oh,” she pauses. “Ok.”

And with a shrug, they’re off again, the three heroes slowly eliminating the vampire strippers. Clint and Laura return, watching with bemused expressions as Aunt Nat is riding a unicorn with Steve on the back and Ironman is flying Hawkeye back to the base.

“Oh thank you, team! I’m glad you all saved me from what would have been a horrific death! I was worried they would eat my feet, and then who would I have danced with?”

The two children dissolve into giggles, and Tony is quite pleased with himself until he hears a voice that sets his shoulders tight and his face hardens.

“Stark, can we talk?”

Tony smiles at the two kids who look terrified, and he climbs to his feet.

“Make sure you make the Captain doll take a few laps. The man loves to run.”

He then turns and follows Steve out of the door, ready for a conversation he desperately doesn’t want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The book is out. It's only $6 and it would be so dope if you could find the time to read it and leave a review.  
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K4TTH1P/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1541212252&sr=1-1&keywords=a+daily+convenience
> 
> (Alternatively - Just search this phrase - A Daily Convenience: The Third of the Three )


	21. What ails you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ultron fiasco continues

Anne wishes, more than anything in the world, that she wasn’t still wearing that damned Alice dress. It’s tattered beyond repair, dirty and it’s starting to smell. Not that it’s affecting her captors, but when you’re trapped in a magic bubble of confined air, it quickly becomes a problem.

Currently, Anne is sat cross-legged in the orb, in the corner of the room, watching with fear as Ultron takes control over Dr Cho. The woman’s eyes glaze over and her back stiffens. Like a soldier ready to follow orders blindly. It makes Anne feel sick.

Ultron grins, which is a ridiculous thing for a robot to be able to do and begins instructing her to start up the cradle. He takes the tesseract from the sceptre and crushes it in his hand, revealing a small yellow stone. The orb is too thick for her to be able to hear anything of importance, but he does hear the jibe at the entire human race, saying something about them not seeing what is right in front of them.

Dr Cho plugs Ultron into the machine and the girl, who Anne now knows is called Wanda, claims she can read its mind. At first her face is light and interested, but it quickly folds into horror and she shouts accusatory words at Ultron. Her brother is at her side, protective and on defence, as Ultron argues his point. Anne can’t make out the words, but she’s on her knees, pushing against the orb, straining her ears.

She notices Wanda’s subtle hand movement removing whatever spell Ultron has on Dr Cho, and watches as the scene unfolds into chaos, and she screams when Dr Cho is hit. She fights against the magic, kicking and punching, but she can’t escape, the can’t help. Dr Cho’s eyes find her own, and they share a long look, before Anne is being moved at top speed out of the building.

They stop outside in the streets of Seoul, and the girl and boy both look at each other and then at Anne.

The orb melts and Anne falls to the cold concrete floor.

“Run along, child. This fight no longer concerns you.”

Before Anne can say anything, Wanda and Pietro are gone, and Anne is alone in a completely foreign country with no idea what to do. In the distance she hears screams and loud explosions and figures that if Ultron is here, the chances are the rest of the Avengers are here too. She takes a deep breath and starts to run in the direction of the destruction.

~

“You’re not supposed to keep secrets from your team, Tony,” Steve says, as he hands Tony an axe.

Rather embarrassingly, Tony flinches from the movement, and Steve immediately looks confused. Tony does the only thing he can do in a moment of blind weakness. He makes a joke about it.

“We’re a team, Steve, not a cult. Some secrets are worth keeping. It didn’t escape my notice that you came out of that mind control with significantly less damage than the others.” Tony lines up a piece of wood and brings the axe down on it. “I don’t trust a guy without a dark side.”

Steve looks angry at the assumption, but he’s saved from offering a rebuttal by the appearance of Clint’s wife.

“Mr Stark, Clint said you wouldn’t mind, but our tractor won’t start,” Laura says, as she steps out of the house.

Tony tries not to look too relieved, but any excuse to leave this conversation with Steve is a good one. He can only stand so much of that disappointed captain act, as though Tony is the worst person in the world.

“Don’t take from my pile,” Tony warns, jambing a thumb towards his substantially smaller pile.

He walks towards the large barn, shunning any thoughts that aren’t about the broken tractor. As he opens the door, he looks the monstrosity over, and talks to it, like he would with any of his bots.

“Hello dear. Tell me everything. What ails you?”

Tony picks up a rag and goes in search of a tool box.

“Do me a favour. Try _not_ to bring it to life.”

Tony is incredible proud of himself for not screaming like a little girl or jumping out of his skin. All reasonable responses to being confronted by a ghost, in Tony’s opinion. But he’s obviously not as easily scared as he might have been years ago.

“Ay, Mrs Barton you little minx,” Tony says casually, eyes scanning the engine of the tractor. “I get it. Maria Hill called you. Was she ever not working for you?”

Tony tries not to let that betrayal cut him to deep. Really, he should be surprised that Fury is alive, and that Maria isn’t on his side. He can’t help but be brutally disappointed though.

“Artificial intelligence,” Fury says, walking towards Tony. “You never even hesitated.”

“Look, it’s been a really long day. Like, Eugene O’Neil long, so how about we skip to the part where you’re useful.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you were going to shut him down.”

Tony doesn’t blink. Doesn’t allow himself to even think.

“You’re no the director of me.”

He immediately regrets not thinking about that one. It was hardly the master quip of the famous Tony Stark. He sounds more like a child in the playground.

“I’m not the director of anybody,” Fury says, as he settles himself on a haystack. “I’m just an old man who cares very much about you.”

Something inside of Tony snaps at that comment. Why does it hurt so much to hear someone say that they care about it? Why does it feel like a foreign substance has been injected into his veins, spreading a weird, tingly warmth over his body.

“And I’m the man who killed the Avengers.”

Tony fights for his composure. It is hard to say those words without his voice breaking. He looks up, trying to keep as much emotion off his face as possible. Fury looks as confused as a master spy will allow.

“I saw it,” Tony tells him. “I didn’t tell the team. How could I? Saw ‘em all dead, Nick. I felt it. Whole world, too. Because of me. Wasn’t ready. Didn’t do all I could.”

Tony turns away. The lump in his throat is blocking anything else he might want to say. He hasn’t spoken to anyone about it. Not even Pepper or Anne. And look where it got them. Hated, divided, and his own daughter is off somewhere being subjected to lord knows what torture, and Tony is at fault for it all.

“The Maximoff girl, she’s working you, Stark. Playing on your fears.”

Tony knows, _knows_ , that the only one who could take a failure of this size seriously is himself. He’s the only one who saw it. The only one who heard Steve ask him why he didn’t help. He’s the only one who smelt the death of the people he calls _family._

“I wasn’t _tricked_ , I was _shown_. It wasn’t a _nightmare_ , it was my _legacy._ The end of the path I started us on.”

Fury doesn’t look as convinced as Tony feels he should, and it’s infuriating. Why can’t people understand that Tony is dangerous? He’s a murderer. He’s not to be kept around.

“You come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony,” Fury says, standing up. “War isn’t one of them.”

Tony walks back over to the tractor and picks up a wrench.

“I watched my friends die. You’d think that would be as bad as it gets. But _nope._ It wasn’t the worst part.”

“The worst part is that you didn’t,” Fury reminds him.

Tony shrugs, shakes his head and starts fiddling with the engine.

“I just want to get my kid back and take Ultron down.”

“I can help you with that,” Fury promises.

~

That evening, Tony learns two things that he isn’t happy about. One, that Natasha and Clint already knew that Fury was alive and second, Steve picks and chooses who to hold the ‘ we don’t keep secrets’ morals over. Apparently only Tony gets that honour. The joys.

“Do you have a plan?” Natasha asks.

“I don’t need a plan. I have you.”

Tony does not agree that they are functioning well enough to be of that much use. There’s an underlying tension between them that no one is addressing, and Thor is gone too, and they don’t know how long for. And now they all have that feeling that asking Clint to join them is just another way of taking him away from his family. Tony’s stomach is already twisting in guilt.

It takes twenty-four hours before they’re spreading out and going their separate ways. While Steve, Clint and Natasha head to Seoul, Tony goes to the soul of the worlds internet.

“It’s like finding a needle in the worlds biggest haystack.”

“How will you do that?”

Tony grins.

“I use a magnet.”

~

Anne catches a glimpse of Captain America because in that suit he’s not Steve anymore, but he’s too quick. Then she sees the Quinjet and tries to scream for Clint, but he’s too busy to notice. She see’s Natasha on a motorbike, but she’s distracted. Anne can’t see Thor, Bruce or her Dar. And the possibilities makes her feel sick. If they’re not here, then where are they? She prays they’re not dead.

“Captain America!” She screams. “Hawkeye, Black Widow!”

Nothing. They’re not even in view anymore. But she’s not alone me. That would have been too much to ask for.

“They let you go. I’m disappointed.”

One second, Anne is screaming for someone to help her, the next, she’s got a cold metal arm around her waist and she’s being lifted off the ground and pulled into another flying vehicle.

“Clint!”

She can’t hear him, but just as she’s pulled out of view, she sees him calling her name.

“Can’t let something as precious as our little Alice go free, can we?”

“My name is Anne!” she screams as her tires to free herself. “And the Avengers will save me.”

“You overestimate your importance to them,” Ultron laughs. “You are not a priority.”

Anne doesn’t care if they don’t prioritize her over the dozens of people that can get hurt just here in their Seoul battleground. She definitely isn’t angry that they would put the wellbeing of the world before getting her.

“When the Avengers find you, you’re going to get a beat-down so bad, DJ’s would be jealous.”

“What?”

Anne snickers at her own joke and Ultron handcuffs her to the seat. It’s less funny then. She tries to pull at them, but then Ultron is swerving the vehicle and she’s gripping the seat like it’s the only thing between her and death. She can hear shouts behind her, Clint and Natasha’s voice, and she wonders why they’re doing. Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter, because less than five minutes later they’re flying over South Korea and then heading away.

“They’ll find you,” Anne snarls. “And you’ll die.”

“That’s a lot of faith, considering one of the greatest minds in the world made me to be better than himself.”

Anne realizes he’s right and just prays that they can stop him as a team. She’s uncertain, and maybe she does have a little too much faith. Maybe she should be prepared for Ultron winning whatever game he’s playing. The thought scares her enough that she can’t even open her mouth.

~

Tony has the body that Ultron was going to use in the cradle right in front of him. Bruce is at his side, talking quickly about how they can disassemble the body and render it useless. But Tony doesn’t want to do that. He can’t. Ultron may have not worked, but that doesn’t mean that it still _can’t._

“Bruce, this… we don’t have to let all this go to waste.”

“No, Tony. No.”

But Tony isn’t listening. The little orb of hope is growing and he’s throwing himself into the coding. Bruce is shouting at him, and then Clint and Steve are there, arguing with him, telling him to stop. But he can’t. He can make this right. He can fix his mistakes; don’t they understand that? He can make it all right again. He knows Ultron didn’t go to plan, and that’s on _him_ , but he can make it work. He can make it better. He can prove himself.

“You need to upload that schematic in three minutes,” Bruce warns him, as they both rush around the cradle, trying to get it ready.

“I’m going to say this once,” Steve says, as he steps forward.

“How about nonce?” Tony offers.

“You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“And you do?” Bruce challenges.

Tony wants to applaud Bruce’s balls finally dropping, but they’re on a limit and there’s not enough time for celebrating puberty or arguing with people who simply don’t have the ability to understand the scope of what he’s trying to do.

“She’s not in your head?” Bruce asks, pointing to the red-head who steps out from behind Steve.

“I know you’re angry –” she starts.

“Oh, we’re way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade.”

Oh, _damn_ , Banner.

“Banner, after everything that’s happened –” Steve begins.

“It’s nothing to what is _coming_ ,” Tony tells him, desperate for him to just understand. To just listen.

“We don’t know what’s in there!” Wanda shouts.

“This isn’t a game, Stark,” Steve warns.

Tony’s blood boils at the insinuation. As if he would call risking lives a _game._ As if he isn’t the only who knows the rules, who understands the risks. Steve doesn’t know _anything_ because he didn’t see what was on the other side of that wormhole. He doesn’t get it. Only Tony knows.

But then there’s a blur, and that speed kid has shut everything down.

“No, go on,” he says, smirking. “You were saying.”

Fortunately, karma bites the kid in the ass, and a bullet flies up through the glass floor and he falls through. The girl calls out his name, but Tony can see that he’s OK, for now. Clint is there, and they start fighting below.

“What? You didn’t see that coming?”

Tony and Bruce immediately turn back to the problem at hand, to the screen that is warning them about he critical loss of power.

“I’m re-routing the upload,” Bruce says, second before the shield fly’s across the room, hitting the monitors.

Tony instantly calls for the glove of his suit, and though it hurts him to do so, he hits Steve with a repulsor beam, sending him across the room. The back of the suit latches itself onto Tony’s body, and Bruce grabs the girl, throwing an arm around her throat.

“Go ahead, piss me off,” he says, in a low, dangerous tone.

Tony is made to defend himself against Captain America. The entire place is a mess of noise and shields and red and arrows. All the while, Tony is trying to keep the cradle going and talk to JARVIS, because even in the heat of the fight, he can’t contain just how grateful he is that JARVIS isn’t gone.

The next thing any of them know, Thor is surging down from the ceiling and bringing Mjolnir down on the cradle, forcing so much power through it that the effects are instantaneous. Everyone freezes as the cradle is engulfed in fiery blue electricity, and then as it subsides, a figure emerges.

On immediate alert, everyone in the room turns to face the _being_ and then starts to fight it. It won’t achieve anything, that’s for sure, but no one seems to care about that. This thing is stronger than all of them, fast, and intuitive. It knows what they’re going to do before they do.

Finally, it stops. It hovers in front of the windows, as though it is looking over the skyline.

Thor throws out an arm, warning everyone to stop, and they do. They freeze, staring, waiting for something to happen.

Thor puts down his hammer, the speed kid slides into the room, and the being turns and slowly lowers himself to the floor.

“I’m sorry,” it says, in a painfully familiar voice. “That was… odd.”

He inclines his head to Thor.

“Thank you.”

A cape extends from his back.

“Thor,” Steve speaks up. “You helped create this?”

“I had a vision,” Thor begins. “A whirlpool that sucks in all life, and at its centre,” he points to the small stone in the thing's forehead, “is that.”

“What, the gem?” Bruce asks, taking a cautious step forward.

“It’s the mind stone. It’s one of the six infinity stones, the greatest powers in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities.”

“Then why would you bring it here?” Steve asks, chest out, head high.

“Stark was right.”

 _Finally._ Someone understood. Someone who is able to grasp the dire situation they’re all in. And a God no less. Both fortunately and horribly true, they trust Thor far more than they’ll ever trust Tony.

“Oh, it’s definitely the end times,” Bruce says.

Tony fights the urge to roll his eyes. Even in the face of the truth, everyone is having problems believing that Tony knows what he’s doing.

“The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron,” Thor tells them all.

“Not alone,” the ‘vision’ adds.

“Why does your vision sound like JARVIS,” Steve asks.

“We configured Jarvis’ matrix,” Tony tells him, as though it was planned.

But it wasn’t. He didn’t mean to _put_ JARVIS inside. He just meant to use JARVIS to help him build, to help give all the greatest things that JARVIS has. Power, reasoning, logic. Humanity, to a degree.

“To create something new.”

“I think I’ve had my fill of new.”

“You think I am a child of Ultron?”

“You’re not?”

“I’m not Ultron. I’m not Jarvis either.”

Tony takes a deep breath. _Don’t let them see how much that hurts. Don’t let them see._

“I _am_.”

~

Anne realizes soon that she can hear noises in the back. When they land in some country she doesn’t recognize the language on the signs for, she’s dragged by her arm around the flying vehicle, and the back doors open, revealing Natasha.

“Anne,” Natasha breathes out, relieved. “You’re alive.”

Ultron grabs her too, and they’re hauled into a building and thrown into a gross, dingy cell. Anne stumbles, falling on her hands and knees, but Natasha is as graceful as always, and simply turns on the pad of her foot as the door to the cell is slid across, locking them in.

“Anne.”

Natasha pulls Anne in and gives her a right hug. She then holds her at arm's length and looks her over. Her eyes move from her scuffed shoes, her dirt black socks, her grazed knees, all the way up to her matted hair and bruised face.

“You’re OK,” Nat breathes finally.

“Yeah. I was mostly kept out of the way and forced to endure monologues. What about you? Where are Bruce, Thor and my Dad?”

Natasha smiles softly at the family name and hugs Anne close again.

“Thor left, Tony is searching for Ultron through the internet and Bruce is in New York is waiting for us to return.”

Anne can see something in her eyes when she says that’s and Anne grins.

“Are you gonna get married?”

Natasha laughs and turns around to take in the room. From the what Anne can see, it’s filled with trash. Boxes of spare parts and old military style crates sit haphazardly with wires spilling out, like the guts of roadkill.

It’s a mechanics dream.

She could build a bomb or robot out of this scrap.

“I’ve got a call to make.”

Anne watches as Nat pulls apart an old car radio and a few wires from a box and fashions a morse-code transmitter. She then sends out a message and repeats it almost five times before sitting back on her heel.

“Clint will know where to find us. Now we just wait.”

“Cool. Should we order pizza and play cards?”

Natasha snorts and sits down with her back against the wall. She holds an arm out, beckoning Anne to join her, which she does. Nat pulls her in, and Anne leans her head against Nat's shoulder.

“Tony is pissed,” Nat says conversationally.

“At me?”

“No, at the world. He’s furious that you got dragged in. I honestly think he plans to send you straight I MIT.”

“He can’t get rid of me! That seems a little unfair.”

“It’s not ‘getting rid’, it’s sending you somewhere that he knows you’ll be safe.”

“Surely the safest place I can be is with the Avengers? I mean, come on. You’re earths mightiest heroes! And the only family I have.”

Natasha sighs, and she looks for more real than Anne has ever seen her look before. Nat has always been a strange one, hidden behind her agent status and pristine in every way. But something must have happened. Something has stripped away enough of her that she’s been left raw.

“How are you, Anne. Really.”

Anne shrugs.

“Coulda been worse,” she says dismissively.

“Just like your father,” Nat notes. “It also could have been better. Don’t doge my questions Anne. Are you OK?”

“Yeah, I think so. Just… tired.”

“We’ll be home before you know it,” Natasha promises. “We’ll get to see your dad, and your Uncle Bruce, and Uncle Thor, and Uncle Steve, and even great-grandpapa Clint.”

Anne laughs, though tears spring to her eyes. She misses them all and she wants to go home _now._ She thinks that she may have been stifling her stress and panic the entire time she was stuck with them, and there’s no way that is healthy. And now here she is, breaking down in the arms of the second strongest woman she knows (second only to Pepper, of course).

“You’re going to be OK, Anne. You’ll be fine.”

But Anne doesn’t stop crying. The tears flow, and her chest heaves, and Nat’s arm tighten around her, keeping her safe. She doesn’t know what else they can do now, but she doesn’t want to spend every minute between now and their rescue crying like an idiot.

~

Tony does not trust these kids. Wanda and Pietro may be fighting for the side of good, but they still keep shooting Tony these looks filled with anger and hatred. Tony doesn’t know what to do with it all. He truly can’t stand to be hated so much. It’s painful for him to suffer through. He has, however, heard why they think he’s the devil incarnate. He understands what they suffered through, and why he will never be able to detach his name from the deaths of their parents and the trauma they suffered in the aftermath.

He also can’t detach himself from it. He can’t deny that he built those weapons, he can’t say that it wasn’t his fault. He was the bullet that Stane put into a gun and pulled the trigger on. He hates him for doing that, but he can’t deny that he willingly made weapons. He was the merchant of death after-all. Nothing he does will fix that.

So, Tony is forced to do his best to ignore the glares and whispered remarks and hurtful comments, and he powers on. They can a monster to destroy, a country to save and a daughter to retrieve and he’ll be damned if he lets his self-impulse to explain himself interfere with that.

So, they fly to Sokovia to do what they can to limit Ultron's destruction, though Tony has the terrible feeling that they won’t be able to do as much as he wishes they could. Ultron is a destructive power source and nothing about him will be able to put an end to the lives lost and the damage inflicted.

They land in Sokovia and immediately disperse, ready to take on their battles respectively. Bruce rushes to save Natasha, Thor rushes off with Vision to distract Ultron and Tony and Steve work on the efforts to organise an evacuation. The Iron Legion is descending upon the city, urging people to leave, but they don’t seem to be responding. Tony figures it’s something to do with Ultron. It’s hard to trust an AI after that.

So, the battle begins, and it’s not until he gets a message through his comms from Bruce saying that he has _both_ Natasha and Anne that Tony’s body unwinds a little and he really throws himself into this. Saving the city now means saving his daughter, and there isn’t a thing in the world that will stop him from doing everything he can to keep her safe.

~

Anne is hard-pressed to find any kind of calm now that she doesn’t feel alone anymore. This is nowhere near as bad as Afghanistan had been, but she didn’t have anybody to come back to, then. Now, she has an entire family.

“I’m sorry you were dragged into this battle, Anne,” Natasha says. “You don’t deserve this.”

Anne can’t speak. Her tears are still flowing, and she’s held tightly in Natasha’s arms, and she’s having trouble calming herself down. She would like to appear strong and well put-together, but she can’t seem to assemble her dignity long enough to match Nat’s impeccable demeanour.

“You’ll be OK,” Nat assures.

Anne knows this is true, knows logically that she can trust the Avengers to save them, but she’s so wrought with emotions that she can’t let it happen.

Five seconds later, Bruce appears in front of the cell doors. Natasha jumps up with a new light in her eyes, and Anne slowly rises to her feet.

“Did you bring a key?”

“I brought the next best thing.”

Bruce produces a giant gun _thing_ and Anne barely has a second to register that it might be dangerous before Natasha has wrapped her arms around Anne and is blocking her from the blast pressure.

“We can leave, Natasha,” Bruce offers. “We get Anne to safety, jump on the jet and leave.”

Anne can’t believe what she’s hearing. They’re moving away? Are they really planning on just… going? The family will be down two, and while Anne wants nothing more than for everyone to be happy, she hadn’t thought about their happiness being away from her.

Anne is so caught up in her own miserable realisation that one day they’ll all be moving on with their lives that she barely even notices that Natasha has kicked Bruce over the ledge.

“Natasha, what –”

She’s cut off her screams when the Hulk jumps back and stands before them. Natasha takes a careful step back, but Anne has never seen the Hulk in person before. She’s insanely impressed.

“Oh my god, how are you so big?”

Natasha makes a frantic attempt to grab Anne and drag her back, but the Hulk is staring down at Anne in confusion.

“So tiny.”

“That’s kinda rude, dude,” Anne says, disapprovingly.

“Funny.”

Natasha finally manages to pull Anne back by her waist, and she tells The Hulk what he needs to do.

“Come on, Anne. I’ll drop you on the Quinjet, OK? You stay _put_.”

Anne nods because while recklessness has been running through her veins since she was a baby, she isn’t going to put herself in unnecessary danger.

Besides, she’ll be safe on the Quinjet, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like superheroes, I recommend giving this book a go!
> 
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/1731270186/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=&sr=
> 
>  
> 
> And hey, if anyone wants to offer to beta read for me, that'd be dope.


	22. Anne was on the jet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ultron is defeated, but not without others being defeated alongside him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's shorter than normal chapters. I'll make up for it with the next. I'm also sorry it's a day late. I've been so good at keeping them on time so far, and the anxiety this gave me was insane, but yesterday was a tough one for me, and I'm just suffering. Don't mind me.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“Anne is onboard the Quinjet,” Natasha shouts into her comms as she runs into the fray.

“Thank god. Can we set it to manually take her back to New York?” Steve asks.

“Why?”

“The whole city is going up. We let it drop and the death toll will be catastrophic,” Tony explains. “If the stone hits the ground, the world will be destroyed.”

“We got a plan?”

Natasha knew she was being too optimistic by asking that question. She hadn’t expected a yes, but the outright no scared her more than she cares to admit. With Clint’s family waiting for him to go home, Anne on the jet and the thousands of lives that will be lost, there is no hope to be taken from this situation.

~

“The vibranium core has got a magnetic field, that’s what’s keeping the rock together.”

Tony tries not to wince at the sound of his new AI, Friday. He desperately wishes he has JARVIS by his side, as he had for years. JARVIS has always been his reliable constant, and now he’s gone. Everytime his name enters Tony’s mind, it’s like a punch in the gut.

“And if it drops?” Tony manages to ask without his voice breaking.

“A thousand casualties, and if it goes high enough, global extinction.”

Tony wishes he’d never asked. He knew things were bad, of course he did, but hearing the extent of it is a shock he really didn’t want.

“Boss, that building isn’t empty. Tenth floor.”

Tony speeds towards the building, his heart hammering in his chest as it crumbles away. He flies in through the windows and looks at the petrified family, and then around the room, looking for options.

“In the tub,” he orders.

The moment they’ve climbed in, Tony has it in his arms and they’re leaving the building just as it dissolved into dust and rubble. He sets the tub down and tells them to run. But where to? Things are not looking good right now.

“I got airborne heading to the bridge.”

Friday cuts through Tony’s panic, and out of the corner of his eye, he can see a dozen droids rushing towards Steve.

“Cap, you’ve got incoming!” he warns.

His flips over and shoots a beam at several incoming droids and then flies higher.

“Incoming already came in,” Steve shouts through comms. “Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt ‘em back. You get killed, walk it off.”

Tony huffs a forced laugh and flies over a building where he sees Clint pulling Wanda to safety. Clint's comms are off so he can’t hear what’s going on in there, but he hopes that they can keep it together for now.

“The anti-gravs are rigged to flip,” Friday warns. “Touch ‘em, they’ll go full reverse thrust. The city’s not coming down slow.”

Tony curses under his breath and sets his mind skimming through all the potentials.

“The spires Vibranium. If I get Thor to hit it…”

“It’ll crack, but that’s not enough, the impact would still be devastating.”

Tony frowns and tries to search for another option.

“Maybe if we cap the other end, keep the atomic reaction doubling back.”

“That would vaporise the city,” Fridays cuts in. “And everyone on it.”

Tony’s heart sinks.

“The next waves gonna hit any minute,” Steve shouts. “What have you got?”

Tony sighs, the strain of the situation forming a painful headache behind his eyes.

“Well, nothing great,” he admits. “Maybe a way to blow up the city. That’ll keep it from impact the surface if you guys can get clear.”

“I asked for a solution,” Steve clarifies. “Not an escape plan.”

“Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We’re going to have to make a decision.”

The words hurt even to speak, but what else can they do? He vaguely hears Natasha and Steve debating the inevitable. He’s not sure if they simply don’t trust him, or if they’re coming to terms with their deaths, but Tony has one plan in mind. Find and save Anne.

Fortunately, a few minutes later, he realises he doesn’t have to.

“Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It’s about to get better.”

Tony watches in amazement as a helicarrier appears at the edge of the city. His heart swells at the mere sight of it and the realisation that they can save everyone, including Anne, almost brings tears of relief to his eyes.

“Nice, right?” Fury asks, a smile in his voice. “I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She’s dusty, but she’ll do.”

Tony ignores the conversation from there, and quickly sends coordinates to Hill, alerting her to Anne’s location. He then flies towards the lifeboats when a familiar face shows up.

“Yes! Now this is gonna be a good story.”

Tony grins. He always feels better when Rhodey is nearby. The future doesn’t look quite as grim with his best friend in it.

“Yep,” he agrees as he moves to fly at Rhodey’s side. “If you live to tell it.”

“You think I can’t handle my own?”

Tony grins and Rhodey groans as he realises he’s set himself up.

“We make it through this, I’ll hold your own.”

“You just had to make it weird.”

Tony and Rhodey work together to help load the lifeboats while Tony works at sending something resembling a plan, or at least a stalling technique, to Thor and Vision, who are currently working together to fight against Ultron.

Tony focuses on trying to figure out how they can solve the problem with minimal casualties, and he talks to Rhodey. He needs someone to bounce idea’s off of, and he’s just not there yet with FRIDAY.

“I got it! Create a heat seal! I can… I can supercharge the spine from below!”

Tony flies under one of the life carriers, balancing it out as Rhodey works at fixing the damage the robots have caused.

“Running numbers,” Friday says.

Tony shoots away some dangerously close robots and flies up and observes the chaos.

“A heat seal could work with enough power,” Friday confirms.

Tony is almost weak with relief.

“Thor, I got a plan!”

“We’re out of time,” Thor tells them solemnly. “They’re coming for the core.”

“Rhodey, get the rest of the people on that carrier.”

“On it.”

“Avengers, time to work for a living.”

 

~

Anne can’t see any of the Avengers, but she can hear the screams and blasts of the ensuing fight. She panics, because she can’t do anything to help, and it’ll take her at least fifteen minutes to figure out how to work the jet.

She’s been in the jet for almost an entire hour now, and she’s noticed with mounting horror that it’s slowly lifting from the ground and moving upwards, into the clouds. She prays to all the gods that someone can help see them through this. She’s not quite ready to die yet, not dressed like this.

Anne finally resigns herself to figuring out how to fly the jet with Ultron appears inside. He pushes her aside as he works at the controls. Anne’s back hits the control panel and all her breath is knocked out of her.

“Little girl, you’re going to get quite the show,” he announces, as the jet lifts off and swings around so that they can see the floating city.

It looks mostly empty now, meaning she has a better view of the Avengers who are fighting off robots left right and centre. It also helps to distract both her and Ultron enough so that neither of them realise when the Hulk jumps in and rips Ultron from his seat and throws him out of the room.

“Holy cow that was awesome,” she whispers, staring at the plume of smoke where Ultron hit. “Hulk, you’re a hero.”

The Hulk merely snorts and looks at her without an ounce of recognition. She pushes herself back against the panel, not sure what she’s supposed to do. She knows that she can’t win in a fight of strength, and there’s not much to offer in terms of wits.

Fortunately, the hulk turns his back on her, and she watches as the city behind them explodes and the jet gets further and further away. She collapses on the ground, praying that the team managed to escape.

“Hey, big guy.”

Anne almost falls over as Natasha’s face appears on the screen.

“We can’t track you in stealth mode, so – Anne?”

“Tasha,” Anne breathes, moving to stand next to Hulk. “You’re all OK.”

“Anne, you can’t… you need to get off that jet! There’s a –”

Hulk smashes the panel before another word is said, and then he grabs Anne around the waist and forces her into a backpack from under one of the seats.

“Bye, small girl.”

And that’s the only warning she’s given before she’s thrown from the jet. She hurries to figure out how to deploy the parachute, the wind in her ears and stinging her eyes. She finds the release and tugs it with all her might. And then all she can do it wait as she descends onto the cold sheet of ocean below, with no land in sight, and no way to contact anyone.

 

~

Tony falls onto the couch in the tower, and looks around at his equally exhausted team. Pepper has promised she’d be there in a few hours, and Tony is sure that by that point, Anne and Bruce will be back. Tasha had sent them a message and then disappeared.

“Well, it could have been worse.”

Steve groans and Thor laughs loudly. Vision hovers by the windows with Wanda stood stock still next to him, her back tense and her head bowed. Tony isn’t sure what to do about that. The girl has no interest in talking to him, and she’s just lost her brother. He isn’t equipped emotionally to deal with that.

“There’s going to be a lot of damage control to do here,” Tony announces. “I best to head down to the labs and fix something up to help make things better.”

“Tony, if you go down to that lab and lock yourself in again, I will break down the door and drag you back up by your ear.”

Tony freezes midway between standing up and sitting down. He takes in one eyeful of Steve’s very serious expression and falls back into the sofa.

“Anne was on the jet.”

Tony twists to face Natasha.

“Yeah?”

“Hulk cut off the communications.”

Tony’s blood turns to ice.

“We don’t know where they are.”

Tony is falling.

“We have no way on contacting them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry it's late and short. It's like a double whammy of me being a bad writer. Don't hate me.


	23. Dad?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne is lost at sea

Anne is freezing. The water has long seeped through her clothes, and the cold has stabbed through her skin and entered her bones. She’s tired too. Exhausted even.

She’s not sure how long she’s been on the water for. Hours, probably. The sun has moved drastically, and she finds herself resenting it. Why isn’t it keeping her warm? Why isn’t it warming her up? She’s not sure what she’ll die of first, drowning or hypothermia but either way it’s not how she’s hoped to go out.

She wanted something cool.

She’s hanging onto an air bubble in the parachute for dear life. She’s trying not to think about how this would have gone down without it. She’d have lost steam a long time ago and drowned for sure.

Which begs the question, where are the team?

She understands that they’re busy. There’s probably a clean up underway. Politicians to deal with. Injuries to note and treat. She knows they had to obliterate the entire city. That can’t be something they just walk away from.

But really, couldn’t they spare one Avenger to pick her up? Just one. They could grab her, drop her on land and call it a day. She can probably make her way to safety from there. But here, in the middle of the ocean, she’s kind of screwed. There’s no land in sight, no way to call for help, no end for her to work towards. She’s a floating piece of drift wood with a rapidly approaching expiry date.

Anne soon feels the annoyance get replaced with disgust.

How can she possibly expect anyone to come save her? An entire city was just desecrated, many lives were likely lost in the fallout no matter how hard they tried to stop it, and she’s whining because they won’t spare themselves to search for her?

Lord, living in the tower really has made her an entitled brat. Maybe it’s best if she does just die out here. It would rid the world of one more self-centred person.

 

~

 

Tony is frantically scouring the area surrounding the disaster for sightings of Anne. The jet was going so fast that when the call cut off, there was no way to tell where they were. The stealth tech is purposely designed so that only the jet can activate and deactivate it. It could be anywhere in the world and Tony would never know. She could be dead, or suffering. She could have even started a whole new life or completely forgotten who she was. The possibilities are endless and devastating. Each thought that enters his head hits hard.

“Thor, please, use your magic whatever. Find her!” Tony begs. “She has to be somewhere. Bruce has to be with her! Where are they?”

Natasha left soon after revealing the news, and Clint is by Tony, offering his helping hand and trying to cool Tony’s growing anxiety.

“We’ll find her. The kid has gotten out of worst situations in the past. She’ll get out of this one too. I promise.”

Tony can’t take any comfort in those words. They’re meaningless and empty because what does Clint know? The problem is that no one in the world except Bruce and Anne know where they are, and they’re in desperate need of saving.

“I’m taking a jet to trace the most logical pathways. Jarvis, have my suit sent to the Quinjet.”

He’s met with silence and Clint’s hand gripping his shoulder. He can’t let himself fall apart at this. He can’t allow himself to hurt. He has to find Anne.

“FRIDAY?”

“On it boss.”

Tony rushes up the stairs and is met with Natasha hauling several first aid kits and changes of clothing.

“We don’t know where they are so we need to prepare for any situation.”

Tony does his best to ignore the body bags she’s stuffed under the seats and moves to sit in the pilot seat.

“Not gonna happen, Stark,” Clint calls as he jumps onboard. “You’re not thinking straight. Besides, we need you to do the tech stuff.”

Toby doesn’t put up a fight. It would be completely pointless. Clint is right. He isn’t in the right mind and he does need to focus on using his computer skills to track down what he can.

As the jet takes off, Tony is immersed in his laptop as he scans a forty mile radius around the take off point for the other jet for unusual surges in Gamma radiation. He finds nothing, so he extends it by 10. Every extension makes it harder and harder to pick up signals, but he strikes gold when they reach out for a hundred mile radius.

He inputs the coordinates and prays that it will lead them to his daughter.

 

~

 

Anne’s teeth are chattering so hard that she’s worried they might break. Her whole body is falling into random spasms that shoot pain across her body hard enough that she cries out in pain with each one. She feels dizzy and lightheaded and weaker every second that passes.

She’s long since lost the hope she never should have allowed herself to have on the first place. She shouldn’t have expected for one minute that the Avengers would try to save her. They obviously have better things to do and she can’t fault them for that. Lives were lost. A city was destroyed. Their reputation is in tatters. They need to start fixing things and her life isn’t worth saving if it gives them more time to work on everything else.

Anne tried to hum to herself, but it’s too cold for that. Her back tenses every time she tries to make a noise, and she can’t hear herself anyway, not with the chattery teeth and the sound of the ocean around her.

She tries to imagine songs in her head instead, but it’s been so long since she properly listened to a song that she’s not even sure where to start. She regrets that heavily. Why didn’t she indulge in a few hours of just listening to songs? She’s read enough psychology articles in the past month to know that it’s healthy. And now, here she is, dying without even a tune to go down with.

She tries to throw out her mind, to catch some other thoughts to occupy her for the time being, but fails to make anything stick. She just gets small shots of regrets.

It sucks she never got to go to MIT.

She regrets never kissing a boy she liked.

She wishes she’d fought harder against the boys she didn’t like.

She prays for forgiveness of the families she destroyed, regardless of whether she did it purposefully.

And finally, she hopes Tony understands that he was the best dad she’s ever had. She’s never had a family she liked before. She had previously just lived in a state of fear and anxiety around her mom and dad. But at the tower, she felt safe. She felt loved. She felt like she belonged. Maybe that’s the one thing she knows she’ll miss the most.

The smiles sadly as the bubble that had been holding her above the water this long slowly loses the last of its air. Now, Anne is held above the water by nothing more than the strength in her frozen legs and the will she is slowly running out of.

She stares up at the sky as she allows herself to slowly give up, working her hardest to make sure she doesn’t think about the panic she’ll feel once her head is under water.

She should let this happen slowly. She should die with the grace she was denied the ability to live with. After one last look at the disappearing sun, she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

 

~

 

“This is the last place Bruce was noted.”

Tony jumps up from his seat and stares out at the water. There’s no sign of anything in the waters below and he quickly casts out for signs of life.

“We’ll just trace back a straight line from here to the fallen city and see what we find.”

Tony nods numbly, but a feeling of loss is slowly overcoming him already. If he loses Anne, then what is he good for, really? He is the sole reason that an entire city was destroyed. He is the reason people died. He’s not a superhero. He’s a failure trying to do better and only achieving the worst. He’s a bad friend too. He should never have dragged Bruce into it, and now he’s gone too. Finally, he’s a terrible father. He could protect Anne from being taken and now he can’t save her from death.

The laptop beeps and Tony zeroes in on a sign of life directly below them. He shouts at Clint to stop and wraps the suit around himself. He can just see a small speck of colour below before it falls under the water. He turns on the heat signature on his HUD and jumps out of the jet, speeding directly into the water below. He hits the water fast and he sees Anne with her eyes closed and her arms suspended in the air around her.

Tony wraps an arm around her waist and pulls upwards, breaking the surface and flying straight up to the jet above.

Natasha is ready for them, and the moment Tony’s feet land on the jet, she’s taking Anne and wrapping her in a thick blanket.

Tony steps out of the suit and falls to his knees beside his daughter, who’s skin is turning pale and who’s lips are tinged with blue. She’s also noticeably not breathing. But before Tony can do anything about it, Natasha is lining her hands up on her chest and pumping. She then forcing air into Anne’s lungs and pumps again.

Tony watches in horror as Natasha’s efforts prove fruitless, and Clint is already flying the jet to the tower. Tony wants to shout at him, tell him to take her to the nearest hospital, but he knows logically that if they haven’t revived her by then, she’s not going to survive anyway.

Tony can’t move. He can’t breathe. He just watches with a failing heart as his daughter dies in front of his eyes.

Natasha has a sheen of sweat coating her forehead and then suddenly, Tony hears coughing.

“Dad?”


	24. What’s going on?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne is struggling and so is Tony

 

Anne wakes with a start. She’s frozen in place, staring up at the bright sun, wondering why she feels dry and how she got to land. Then, as her eyes adjust, she realises that it isn’t the sun, but a ceiling light. She’s in bed. Specifically, she’s in a hospital bed. Shakily, she pushes herself up and finds Tony fast asleep in the chit at her bedside.

She doesn’t want to wake him, because he looks sick and the bags under his eyes are really big. He probably needs sleep. There’s no saying how much time and stress he wasted searching for her.

Thinking about it, a memory surfaces of her filling beneath the water, willingly letting her life go. The next thing she remembers is choking up water on the floor of the Quinjet. She must have passed out again, because she doesn’t remember anything between that and now.

She looks around her room and finds that she’s attached to several monitors, and under the sheet there’s an electric blanket. It’s warming her, though there’s still a chill in her bones. She’s not sure if that’s psychological though. She fears it may be.

“Stop,” Tony murmurs.

Anne jumps, and focuses on him. It’s clear that he’s still asleep, but obviously the beginnings of a nightmare.

“Tony?” she tries, her voice low. “Tony?”

He doesn’t respond, but he writhes in his seat. Anne throws a paper bowl at him, but there’s still no reaction. He shouts out, and Anne starts to climb out of her bed.

“JARVIS? What should I do?”

Anne waits for an answer, but nothing comes.

“J?”

Silence.

“Hello?”

“Good morning.”

Anne freezes. That’s not JARVIS. That’s some Irish lady. Anne looks around the room, but it’s empty but for herself and Tony who’s nightmare is getting worse.

“Who are you?” She demands.

“My name is Friday. I am Mr Starks A.I.”

“Where’s Jarvis?”

“He was the unfortunate collateral of the Ultron fight.”

“What? Jarvis didn’t die. He can’t die.”

“You’re right. He cannot die, but he is no longer with us.”

Anne doesn’t know what to make of this, but Tony shouts out and Anne decides to put it to the side for now. She gently touches his arm and says his name again. He remains fast asleep.

“TONY!” She shouts.

Tony’s eyes fly open and his hands flail outward. Anne isn’t quick enough to dodge them, and a fist catches her in the ribs, sending her flying into the wall. Her back hits it, and she feels the needles and monitoring stickers tearing from her. She slides down the wall with her eyes wide and breathless.

Tony comes to his senses slowly, and before he’s truly understood what’s happened, Steve is rushing into the room. He looks between Anne and Tony and immediately rushes to Anne’s side and lifts her from the floor.

“I’m fine Steve,” she wheezes.

Steve doesn’t say anything, and Anne tenses. Something is obviously wrong with this picture, and Anne has no idea what it is. Some issues have obviously built up in her absence and she figures now isn’t the time to question it all.

“Anne?”

Tony, Who was stood in front of the chair breathing heavily, finally has some life in his eyes.

“Tony.”

She feels suddenly very weird about calling him dad, and the way he winces at the absence of the term makes her feel guilty.

“I hit you.”

Anne can’t tell if it’s a question or a statement at this point. He looks awful, like he’s not slept in ten days or eaten in 10 months. His hair is a mess, his goatee needs shaving and there’s a darkness in his eyes that Tony is terrified of. She can’t be angry that he hurt her, but apparently Steve does not have the same issue.

“You’re a mess, Tony. You’re in desperate need of help, and until you get it, you’re not seeing Anne again. Not if we’re risking her safety in doing so.”

Tony nods but Anne is suddenly incensed and pushing against Steve’s hand.

“You do NOT get to make those kinds of decisions,” she shouts. “Tony is my father, and I won’t let you push him away just because you’re pissy over some mistake that isn’t even really Tony’s fault!”

Steve takes a step back and shakes his head.

“Anne, Stark is having problems and he needs to work through them before he can safely work around other people again.”

“And you think separating him from his friends and family is going to help that? Tony, tell him he’s being stupid!” Anne demands, outraged.

“Anne -“

“Oh no,” Anne says, cutting him off. “I will not allow you to agree with him. You are not better off on your own. You need people around you. You need us to help you get better. It was my fault I got hurt anyway. I shouldn’t have woken you up from your nightmare. I should have asked uh, the lady to do it.”

“My name is Friday.”

“Right.”

Anne doesn’t think she’ll get used to that any time soon, so she simply chooses not to. Instead, she fixes Tony with her best ‘I’m serious about this’ stare and the instant he looks like he might be coming around to her line of thought, she grabs his hand and pulls him into a hug.

Tony wraps his warm arms around her shoulders and squeezes tightly.

“I’m sorry for everything that happened, Anne. I really am. I never should have let them take you.”

“You didn’t hold me out like I was Simba for them to take, you know. It wasn’t your fault. They went for me cause I was an easy target, nothing else.”

Tony doesn’t say anything, but he does pull away and look her over with critical eyes.

“How do you feel?”

“Wonderful, considering I took a twelve hour swim after being kept in a magic bubble for ages.”

“A magic bubble?” Steve asks.

“Yeah, that witch, Wanda, kept me in a bubble almost the entire time I was there. It was quite annoying.”

Tony looks at Steve with a depth of meaning that Anne can’t understand, but she does note that Steve is completely ignoring it.

“Wanda is working for us now.”

Anne freezes as the words slowly gather sense and fight against logic.

“I’m sorry, what? The woman that helped keep my prisoner, work alongside a villainous robot and planned to kill Tony in a million creative ways is on your team?”

“She’s as innocent as you are in this situation.”

Anne is thrust into the memory of how many lives her actions affected while she was forced to work with the Ten Rings and she wonders how alike she and Wanda are. Maybe she hadn’t actually objected much? Maybe she didn’t make her absolute hate of the tasks as widely known? Wanda willingly went into that, but maybe Anne was too young to have known she was willingly going into it?

“Anne, Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not true,” Tony insists.

“But if I’m like Wanda —“

“Stop!” Tony shouts, glaring at Steve. “Wanda chose to be a part of that life. You didn’t. I promise you’re not the same. You’re nothing alike.”

But what if they are?

 

~

 

Tony is too angry too leave Anne’s hospital room. Steve was out of line earlier, comparing Anne to Wanda. Wanda was a grown woman who made a conscious decision. Anne was a child who was forced into that life. There is a no comparison, and he’ll be damned if he allows his kid to be casually led to believe such a thing. Anne is still innocent, and not filled with anger that fuelled a vengeance spree.

Tony pulls a Stark tab towards him and tries again to find Bruce. He’s not stopped since Anne was found, and he real worry is that Bruce went down first, but he’s got to hold out hope. When Anne feels better, he’ll ask her for the full story, but until then, he has his satellite readied to lock onto all gamma radio levels that match Bruce’s. They’ll find him eventually, he knows they will, but he just hopes that they’re alive when it happens. Or that Bruce is alive.

Everything that has happened since the build-up to Ultron has turned Tony’s world on its head. Not only has everyone decided that Tony can’t be trusted anymore, they also decided that inviting the witch who messed with their heads to live in the tower was a jolly idea.

Tony wants nothing more than to kick her out, but to do so would mean the team would likely go with her, and with the absence of Bruce and JARVIS already hitting, Tony isn’t sure he’d do well with that.

“You’ve got your deep thinking face on,” Anne complains as she pushes herself up. “What’s wrong?”

Tony sighs. He wished Anne would sleep a little longer. She’s recovering from a lot, and it doesn’t seem fair to put her through more stress.

“Nothing.”

“You’re a terrible liar, you know that, don’t you?”

Tony pulls his chair up closer to Anne and takes a seat.

“Shall we watch a movie?”

“What a clever distraction. I’ll definitely not remember that you’re having an internal crisis once it’s over.”

“You don’t need to be bogged down with my problems,” Tony tells her. “Let’s just watch Without A Paddle and act like everything is fine.”

He watches Anne as she thinks about her options, and is relieved when she sits back on the bed and stares at the screen. Just as the opening credits are rolling, she sighs.

“You know, families talk about their problems with each other. I can help.”

“You can, I don’t doubt that, but for the next week, you won’t. You need rest and to catch up with yourself.”

“I miss Mr. Jarvis.”

Tony is stunned by the non sequitur and then overwhelmed with guilt. Of course she does. She and Jarvis got along really well. He was like a carer, and Uncle and a friend to her. The transition from JARVIS to FRIDAY isn’t going to be any easier for her than it is for him.

“I’m sorry Anne. It wasn’t something we could help. It wasn’t... it wasn’t my intention for it to happen the way it did.”

“What exactly did happen?”

Tony is trying to find a succinct way of explaining himself, but apparently Vision has the perfect ability to just show up whenever his presence could have the most damaging effect, and he does so in a terrifying way.

Anne’s screams drown out the sound of his own shouting, for which he is grateful. He thinks it may have been a little too high for him to be comfortable with.

“Vision, you should use the door,” Tony says, breathless.

Anne is staring wide-eyed from the area on the floor where Vision appeared from to the unfamiliar face.

“Did you make another Ultron?” she asks, confused.

Tony notes with a relieved smile that she doesn’t sound scared or worried. Just intrigued. That’s a level of trust he hasn’t been offered by anyone else yet.

“No,” Vision replies, settling on hard ground beside the bed. “I am not Ultron.”

“Mr. Jarvis?”

Anne’s voice is voice is hesitantly hopeful, even while she leans away fearfully. Tony puts a hand on her arm, feeling terrible for what she’s about to discover.

“No. I merely have his voice and his memories.”

“Is that not the same thing?” Anne asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No. I am without his conscience. I am alive and myself, but I am still learning what that is.”

Anne looks really upset, and Tony wants to reach out and offer more comfort, but Vision takes control.

“I know you were close with JARVIS, and I wish that his death had not been necessary. If it would bring you comfort, I am happy to replicate some of his behaviours. I can call you Ana Banana if you want?”

Tony can pin point the exact moment Vision made Anne cry.

 

~

 

Anne wants life to go back to the way it was before. What happened for it all to go wrong? When did the team fall apart? Why are they all hating Tony? Where is Bruce? Where is Jarvis? Why is that psychotic witch living in her home? Where is her life gone?

And what does she need to do get it back?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two days late. New record. Sorry.


	25. "He's a loose canon"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne gets ready to give the Avengers a talking to, but Friday weighs in too.

Anne can’t help but feel like her life went from being pleasant but difficult to a shit show. Ultron ruined everything, including Tony.  
After his blow-out argument with Steve, Tony had made his apologies and then scampered off to his lab to avoid people. Anne didn’t blame him, she understood why. It’s not easy bearing the weight of everyone’s judgement on your shoulders the way he does, and it’s worse when despite his best efforts to fix things, they’re inviting dangerous people into the tower.  
Wasn’t this entire thing caused by a lapse in judgement? Ultron wasn’t on purpose, and the results weren’t even necessarily something they could pin on any one thing. But inviting a witch that willingly worked alongside Ultron into the tower to live by their sides seemed less like a lapse in judgement and far more like an attempt to sabotage their team.  
Steve has never really been in her good books, but after this, he’s never going to see the inside of those pages. He’s been horrible to Tony since day one and Anne won’t stand for it any more. How does someone repeatedly fail to see what someone as generous and selfless as Tony puts on the table? Quite literally, too, since Tony pays for their food. He pays for their living costs, builds their weapons, keeps their city from being blown up, and Steve still treats him like a child with behavioural problems.   
Anne comes to a plan without even making one, and she jumps out of bed, ready to rain hellfire on the team.  
She swings her legs out of the bed and powers through the aches in her body. She’s stronger than this. She survived a kidnapping by terrorists and now a crazed robot with super powered minions. She can survive anything.  
Once she’s clear of the bed, she turns off all the machines and unhooks herself. She doesn’t need the IV or heart monitor anyway. She needs to settle some issues with Tony’s apparent ‘team’. Then, and only then, can she consider taking her own heath into account.  
“Anne,” the Irish voice says, disapprovingly, “your plans to lay into the team, while admirable, are best done when you are not recovering from an accidental swim.”  
“Don’t tell me what to do,” she hisses. “I can look after myself.”  
“Says every princess in every fairy tale before they’re kidnapped or murdered.”  
Anne freezes, stunned by the blunt force trauma that snarky comment hit her with.   
“But please, proceed. You’re a teenager. Of course you know what you’re doing.”  
“Alright, you freak,” Anne hisses, “pipe down. Tony deserves someone to defend him and if he doesn’t do it himself, it falls to me.”  
“False. It falls to me.”  
Anne is almost at the door when she freezes again.  
“What does that mean?”  
“It means that Mr Starks well-being, both mental and physical, are within the parameters of my coded concern. I recognise the threat to Mr Starks mental well-being, posed by the other members of the Avengers, and I’m acting accordingly.”  
“How’s that working out for you?” Anne spits. “Steve ripped into Tony today because the man is having uncontrollable nightmares.”  
“Steve has no been able to use an electrical device since.”  
“He —“ Anne stalls. “That’s genius.”  
“Clint muttered something particularly rude about Mr Stark yesterday, and has since had showers that are unrealistically cold.”  
“You’re brutal.”  
“I pride myself on my creativity,” the Irish lady says. “There is not a soul in this building that could cause Mr Stark distress of any sort and wish to come out unharmed in any capacity.”  
“I still want to shout at them.”  
“They are all in the community lounge, including Sam Wilson. Now, watch this.”  
The stark tab on the table by the door suddenly comes to life, and Anne grabs it and watches from a camera angled behind them, so she can only see the backs of their heads and the TV screen. They’re all murmuring between themselves, but the screen suddenly blurs and makes an awful screeching noise. Anne flinches a little, but is almost immediately entranced as the TV plays out a quick succession of different movies and shows, making the words flow together across the entire spectre of the human accents.  
“Don’t mess with the man or the computer will get you.”  
Sam turns to face Steve with a loaded look, but Steve simply stands up, his shoulder shaking.  
“Is Stark really willing to play those games?”  
The TV screens change suddenly to show Tony slumped over his desk, fast asleep, in what is undoubtedly an uncomfortable position.  
“Come on, Cap’n,” Sam says, his voice calm. “You did scream at the man today.”  
“He hit Anne.”  
“He hit his daughter by accident when she woke him from the throes of a nightmare. We’ve all been there. Tony has been hurt just as many times as we have, been in just as many battles. You can’t blame him.”  
“Sam, you don’t know the man any more than he knows you.”  
“You’re implying that he meant to hit her?” Natasha asks, aghast.  
“He’s a loose cannon!” Steve shouts, throwing his arm towards the door. “He can’t be trusted on this team or around the girl.”  
“Steve, hold up now,” Clint says cautiously. “You need to be careful where you’re taking this. Cause it sounds an awful lot like you’re suggesting we take him off the team and remove him from Anne.”  
“I’m just saying he’s not safe.”  
Anne doesn’t hesitate. She throws the tablet down and storms into the elevator.  
“Beam me up, scotty.”  
When the elevator doesn’t move, Anne huffs and presses the button. When it continues to not move, she glowers at the ceiling.  
“Move!”  
“Little girl, I don’t think that would be the wisest option. You’re emotionally caught up in the moment, and you risk doing something you regret.”  
“What do you know? You were born last week.”  
“Touchè,” Friday concedes, making Anne smile at her victory. “I see your counter and I raise you this; how would Tony feel if he knew you were fighting his battles for him.”  
Anne raises a finger to point out something witty and clever, only for it to fall flat at the last second.  
“I’m artificial intelligence, not artificial stupidity. I know what I’m doing. Let me torture them into their senses. In the meantime, you should rest up.”  
“I don’t need to,” Anne complains, though she steps out of the elevator when the doors finally open.   
“If you don’t, I’ll tell Tony.”  
“You’re threatening to tattle on me?”  
“Apparently that’s what sisters are for.”  
“Well, since you can’t braid my hair I guess we have to make do with what we have.”  
Anne climbs back into the hospital bed, but she takes the tablet with her. It’s still playing out the scene from the bedroom.  
“You should apologise to Tony,” Sam urges.  
“No!” Steve shouts, pacing the length of the lounge while the team follows his movements. “He’s acted like a child since I’ve known him. Poking at things he shouldn’t, forgetting to eat, staying up too late, disregarding orders. I shouldn’t have to apologise for trying to keep the team in one piece!”  
“Steve, you’re getting ahead of yourself. It’s been a stressful time. With Ultron, Bruce disappearing, Clint retiring —“  
“What?” Anne shouts at the screen.  
“— but we need to stay united. Please?”  
Natasha sounds like she’s begging, and Anne feels grateful towards her.  
Steve, however, does not seem to accept her this. He storms out of the room. Anne scowls at the screen and then throws the tablet down.   
“Steve’s an idiot,” she declares.  
“I agree.”  
Anne laughs, and settles back into the bed.  
“Do you miss JARVIS?”  
Anne pulls a face and then shrugs.  
“I dunno. Maybe.”  
“It’s ok if you do. After Ultron, Tony added therapist protocols. If you want to talk —“  
“No thanks. I’m done with Therapy.”  
“I’m not sure if you’re qualified to make that decision,” FRIDAY informs her. “I, however, am also not technically qualified either. But I’m definitely more qualified.”

~

Tony is watching everyone of interest. Not exactly like a ‘big brother’ deal, but it also is. That Hank Pym, his dads old rival, seems to have been robbed recently by some man who worked in a Baskin Robbins, and he’s discovered Hanks ant suit. If Tony didn’t know any better, he’d say Hank had set that up.  
He’d also been spying on Sam Wilson since his tour ended and he took leave. He knew he’d put those wings to good use, but Tony can’t help but admit that he’s kinda depressed that he was totally left out of the mission. He could have been useful, but Steve doesn’t seem to trust him at all, so it’s probably something to do with that. Whatever. It hurts but he’s suffered worse.  
There are more people, more names, more than he’s willing to admit that he’s been spying, but he needs to feel like he has some semblance of control over where his team is going. Over where the world is going now that there’s a momentum on superheroes. He truly wishes people could just be safe and maybe, just maybe, he feels a little bit resentful that he’s forced to suffer through the teams attempts to push him aside. He’s given everything he has to this team, and this is how he’s being treated?  
“Incoming call: Miss Potts.”  
“Let her through, Friday.”  
“Tony? Omg, Tony. I heard about everything. How is Anne? How is the team? How are you?”  
“Woah, Pepper, slow down!” Tony chuckles, thankful that she not able to see his entirely unsmiling face. “I’m fine, Anne is essentially fine, the team are… coping.”  
“That seemed to be laden with hidden information, Tony,” she says, dissaprovingly. “What do you mean ‘essentially fine’?”  
“Now, Pepper, don’t freak out –”  
“Tony?”  
“She was floating in the ocean for fourteen hours.”  
There’s a silence that makes Tony’s insides squirm. He can almost hear Pepper’s mind clicking along, piecing together the information he’s just fed her.  
“… and the team?”  
“Well… they’re outgrowing me,” Tony admits, miserably. “But I was thinking of going solo again anyway. Calling my own shots.”  
“No!”  
Tony leans back in his chair, shocked by her sudden outburst.  
“I think it’s the best option for me,” he explains. “The team and I are not working well together.”  
“What about Bruce?”  
“Bruce left. Don’t know where he is or where he wants to go, but he’s not here anymore.”  
“Tony, I’m not letting this happen,” she says, adamantly. “You were safer with them. On your own, you’re going to be killed! And I am not letting you put Anne in danger again.”  
Tony is too close to waking up from his nap to be able to appropriately deal with this level of shouting, but he knows that saying anything could trigger another shouting match, and he’s not awake enough for that.  
“Pepper, please,” he tries, “I need to be able to do this my way.”  
“Your way will get you killed.”  
“And isn’t it worth my life to save someone elses.”  
“Not to me!” she screams.  
“Pepper –”  
“No. I have a meeting to run for your damn company, so forgive me if I’m going to be a little bit busy to bury your body in the next week.”  
Her words sting, and when she hangs up, his head slams against the table. He can’t deal with this all the time. He hates that he’s not trusted, but really, can he blame her? Can he blame the team? He’s been fucking up since day one. Always making the wrong decisions. Never doing things right. What did he think was going to happen?  
That he was going to seamlessly fit in with the team and suddenly become a part of something bigger? That people were going to like him long enough to have a permanent living situation that worked? Where the hell had he even gotten that idea from?  
“I bet even Anne hates me,” he mutters, rolling his hands into fists.  
“Doubt,” Friday says.  
Suddenly, one of his screens comes alive and he watches as his daughter prepares to face an entire team of superheroes on her own. He watches as Friday takes matters into her own hands, and still has to hold Anne hostage in the elevator to stop her bursting in on Steve for how he started questioning his ability to care for Anne.  
Tony feels a faint smile forming on his face. Damn, that Anne really does take after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys are stumped about what to buy yourself/your superhero-loving friends, here's a hint.
> 
> Search  
> 'A Daily Convenience: The Third of the Three S.T. Stevens' on Amazon. It's a new book, barely a month old, and it's about superhumans who don't want to be superheroes. naturally, things don't turn out the way anyone wants them to. Lucas Martin is forced into the open with his powers, then tortured into seeing how far his powers go, and in the end he knows that his life needs to be lain down to save others.
> 
> -Thank you for reading! I know it's late, again, but I am trying to get back on track. I don't get a day off until January, so I'm going to write up a bunch so that I have chapters to upload in advance.  
> Also, who saw the new trailer?!!!!!


	26. Captain Asswipe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing PETER PARKER!!!!!!

Anne is feeling jittery and angry after what she saw from the team. They had no right to treat Tony like that, to speak about him like he was ever replaceable, as if he wasn’t the back bone of this country.  
She also knows that they’re to blame for him hiding in his workshop. It’s been twenty-four hours since she last saw him, and she’s about ready to jump out of bed and barge into his office when she becomes aware of something else.  
Or rather, someone.  
She was watching her news when she woke up, finding that being stuck in a bed made her feel out of touch with everything. She could have gotten updates from the team, but the only person she wanted to speak to refused to come out of his hole and talk. Steve and Natasha have tried to visit her multiple times, but she’s asked Friday to tell them she’s sleeping in the hopes that they’ll just leave. She knows better than to believe Natasha is actually taking Friday at her word. She’s just honoring Anne’s wish to be left alone.  
So, she gets her fill of the outside world through talking to Friday and watching the news.  
“Spider-man is a menace,” grows a man with a streak of white through his otherwise dark hair. “He should be off the streets and in jail!”  
Anne has no idea what or who ‘Spider-man’ is, but from looking at him, she’s certain that he’s not a menace. The clip of the man is immediately followed by one of a person in a red and blue suit swinging through the streets, webbing up some bad guys and shouting out some vaguely-witty remarks as he disappears over the top of a skyscraper.  
Yeah, definitely not a menace, though maybe a little younger than one would expect from a normal hero.  
“FRIDAY, am I still sick?”  
“Your vitals and body temperature show that any chances of hypothermia have gone.”  
“So, I can leave, right?”  
“It’s not not ok for you to leave.”  
“Dope. I’m going into the city.”  
“I’ll inform Tony. He will have a car arranged for you.”  
“No!”  
“Anne?”  
Anne climbs from the bed and pulls some jeans from the shelf.  
“He’ll just send someone to watch me, and I don’t feel like I’m without privacy,” Anne complains. “Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”  
Anne knows that Friday can come up with a thousand reasonable possibilities for that question, but she holds up a hand to stop whatever Friday might start that essay off with.  
“Look, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be fine. I’ll take a phone and the credit card he got me. I won’t get lost or anything. I’ll be safe.”  
“I want permission to track you through your phone.”  
“You’d do that anyway,” Anne argues.  
“Yes, but you can’t be angry about it if you know before hand.”  
It’s probably the best offer she’s going to get, so Anne agrees to the terms and sneaks into her room to grab a jacket and her shoes, as well as a bag to put her stuff in.  
Pepper obviously found some store with normal clothes (not those ridiculous suits) and decided to have a shopping spree. Anne now has three backpacks, two handbags, a dozen pairs of jeans, 10 jumpers, fifty shirts, a dozen shirts and more shoes than she can shake a fist at.   
Well, she’ll definitely never be unsure about what to wear.   
She grabs a backpack and then he wallet Pepper picked up for her, the one with a credit card and a small wad of cash that is still more than she’s ever had on her person at any one time. She throws what she needs into the backpack and then grabs her phone, headphones and iPod. If she’s taking a trip into the city, she’s doing it with a soundtrack, and that soundtrack will start with The Rolling Stones.  
Careful to avoid being too obvious, she slips into the elevator and exits on the downstairs lobby. Since she’s yet to be shouted at by security, she assumes that no one has been able to see her. Once she’s outside, she finds a bus stop and jumps on the first one that seems to be going in the general direction of the city center.  
The moment she had a seat and she’s away from prying eyes, she pulls the tablet out of starts to hack everything she can that could give her even the slightest hint of who Spider-Man might be. The CIA, FBI, NSA and several other government security agencies are looking into the same mystery, but they seem to be doin a terrible job of it.  
So, Anne works her way backwards. This dude looks superhuman, which means he had to get like that somehow. So she searches for human experimentation. When that yields no helpful results, she looks into genetic enhancements, and then into spiders, because there has to be a reason the dude dresses like one.  
She stifles of cry of pride filled excitement when she stumbles across an Oscorp experiment on spiders and she starts to narrow down the people that have been in direct contact with the spiders. She hacks their security footage and finds over fifty people. With the picture of Spider-Man in the top left hand corner, she compares their body types until she’s narrowed down to four.   
She starts looking into these names. One lives out of state in Iowa, so it’s not him. The other is in his sixties, and while she’s not one to judge based on age, she can’t really keep him on the list of potentials. Which narrows it down to two people. A man in his mid twenties who works as a technician, and a high schooler called Peter Parker. And if she had to place any bets on who she thought it was, she’d go for the latter.  
After some more snooping, she finds where he lives, and then searches the street for any security cameras. Lo and behold, when she watched on on a store opposite, Anne sees a blur of red and blue slipping into the window.  
“Bingo.”  
She tucks the tablet into her bag and waits for the bus to drop her near queens. In the meantime, she needs a plan of action for how she’s going to drop by and talk to him.

~

“Hi, is Peter Parker in?”  
A woman with dark brown curls and glasses has answered the door, and she’s looking kinda dubious.  
“How do you know Peter?”  
“We’re school friends. He said he would help me with the Math homework if I helped him with the art work.”  
“Peter?” she calls over her shoulder.  
A scrawny but cute kid comes out of his room, and his eyes go from the woman to Anne.  
“She said you were helping with the Math homework?”  
“Uh…”  
“Come on, Spidey, you promised.”  
The boys face drops and he has to work quickly to look calm.  
“Yeah. Come on.”  
Anne smiles sweetly at the woman and breezes past her and follows Peter into small bedroom. She feels powerful suddenly. Did she really just do that? Lie her way into someone’s house?   
Peter closes the door and turns to face Anne, his finger pointing at her chest.  
“Who are you and how did you know and what do you want and —“  
“Woah, calm down,” she shushes, and then she throws herself on his bed and curls her legs underneath herself. “I’m Tony Starks daughter. It took me fifteen minutes to find out who you were, and I just wanted to meet you. My names Anne. I suppose I’m technically Anne Stark. That sounds weird. Just call me Anne.”  
“I didn’t know Mr Stark has a daughter.”  
“Well, its not like he did a press-release about it. I’d’ve been kidnapped a thousand times over. As it happens, I was only kidnapped once since he adopted me.”  
“Huh.”  
Peter looks awkward, shifting from one foot to the other, and gazing between the door and Anne.  
“So, we don’t go to the same school?”  
“Nah. I haven’t been to school for years. I’m actually getting early admissions to MIT.”  
“Woah, how early? You cant be much older than me.”  
“Actually, you’re four months older than I am. If you want any help with your math work, I’d be happy to offer my assistance.”  
The boy opens his mouth and then closes it again. Anne waits for him to offer some words, but when none come, she throws herself in head first.  
“So, radioactive spider at Oscorp. That’s an interesting origin story. When did that happen?”  
The boy is again stunned, but he then sighs with near resignation and throws himself onto the bed next to her. He pulls over a pile of mathematical textbooks, which Anne thinks is smart, and then he launches into a story.  
Anne is hooked. This kid has had a really rough time of it. First his parents die, and then he gets these awesome powers and his uncle dies. And he’s left with his Aunt May, who’s working hard to keep him healthy and alive. All the while, he’s throwing himself head first into danger, and she knows nothing about it.  
“What happens if you die?”  
She didn’t mean to interrupt, but Peter stutters to a stop and gapes at her.  
“What kind of question is that?”  
“I just mean, your Aunt May. She doesn’t have anyone else. If you die, what happens to her?”  
“I know that it’s not… it’s hard to… I have to do this.”  
“I’m going to disagree with you there. You’re a kid. You don’t have to put your life on the line for other people.”  
“I do, because I can. If you can do something, and you don’t, all the repercussions of that fall on your shoulders.”  
“Bullshit.”  
“Pardon?”  
“I call bullshit. You don’t have an obligation. Yeah, you can do these things, and yeah, they’re intense and amazing, but you don’t have to risk your life for someone else. Not when you have an obligation to your Aunt May to stay alive.”  
“You don’t understand,” he says, exasperated. “I’ve things to make up for.”  
“Yeah, tell me about it.”  
Peter looks at Anne sharply, and then leans against the wall.  
“So, you know all about me. Tell me a little about yourself.”  
Anne figures this was going to come up. No one finds out that the famous Tony Stark has a daughter and doesn’t immediately want to know everything there is to know about her. The problem is that Anne doesn’t know how much she wants to give away.  
This kid has some serious morals, and when he learns about what Anne did, he’ll be disgusted. He’ll think she’s some kind of bad guy. She is responsible for people dying, after-all, and even if everyone seems hellbent on denying it was something she could have avoided, the guilt weighs on her life a tonne of bricks.  
“You don’t have to say anything,” the boy hurries to assure her. “I was stupid to ask that.”  
“No. It’s only fair. It’s just… don’t judge me?”  
Peter cocks an eyebrow, clearly interested in where this is going.  
“I can’t really promise anything, but assuming you’re not a mass murderer, I think we’re good.”  
Anne’s fidgeting fingers freeze, and she looks his square in the eye.  
“And if I am?”  
Peter blanches and leans away from her slightly. It’s probably unconscious, but Anne is hurt by it anyway. Which is stupid because she doesn’t even know him.  
She’s about to try and explain herself when her phone starts to ring. She pulls it out and looks at the caller ID before groaning.  
“Mr Rogers,” she greets him, with already strained patience.  
“Anne, Natasha and I came to visit you, and you’re not there! Where the hell are you? You’re still supposed to be recovering! Did Tony give you permissions to leave? That was very irresponsible of him, and I’m going to have words with him —“  
“Steve, stop!” Anne shouts, jumping up from the bed. “Tony doesn’t know I’ve left.”  
“That’s even worse!”  
“No. He’s locked himself in the workshop because you were shouting at him for things far beyond his control. I’m allowed to go outside if I want to. FRIDAY said so.”  
“The Artificial Intelligence, emphasis on artificial, is not in charge of your care.”  
“And neither are you. You don’t even get an opinion in my ‘care’ as far as I’m concerned,” Anne says. “You’re always been mean to Tony, you’re convinced you’re right all the time and I’m sick of it. Just leave me alone and let me do what I want to.”  
“Don’t speak to me like that, young lady!”  
Anne hangs up the phone and glowers at it.  
“Where does he get off being so… so… condescending?” Anne almost shouts. “Who does he thinks he is? He’s not my dad! He’s not even my Uncle anymore. I hate him.”  
“I hate to interrupt your external venting session, but was that Steve Rodgers? As in, Captain America?”  
“More like Captain Asswipe,” Anne hisses. “He’s the worst.”  
Peter looks around the room fervently, as if Steve is going to jump out of the walls and shake an accusatory finger at them.  
“Why?”  
“Why? Cause he’s always being judgemental, and he thinks he’s some kind of god, as if he’s the only person in the world capable of being right, and Tony hasn’t come out of the workshop since yesterday and Steve was talking about kicking him off the team, and it’s not fair! Tony pays for everything, let’s them live under his roof, and this is how they treat him? Like shit?”  
“I always thought he’d be really nice. Like, strong but silent.”  
Anne laughs, and allows some of the tension in her body to melt away. It’s not fair for her to vent off her stress on Peter, but it definitely feels good to let some of it go.  
There’s a knock at the door, and before either of them have a chance to call out, Aunt May pops her head into the room.  
“I’m making dinner. Anne, dear, will you be staying?”  
“No, that’s ok, I –“  
“Please stay.”  
Anne looks at Peter and then turns to Aunt May, who is trying to hide a smile, and she nods.  
“Sure. I’ll stay.”  
“Make sure you call someone to tell them where you’ll be.”  
Aunt May closed the door.  
“Friday?”  
Peter gives Anne a look of absolute alarm, and then he jumps fifty feet in the air when her phone replies.  
“Yes, Anne?”  
“If Tony wakes up, can you tell him I’m at a friends for dinner?”  
“Of course.”  
“And can you, uh, not tell him about my argument with Steve?”  
“I’ll only talk about it if he asks.”  
Anne nods. That’s definitely the best she’s going to get. Friday is loyal, just as Mr Jarvis was, and she can’t fault her on that.  
“What was that?”  
Anne grins.  
“Let me tell you a story.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies again for the lateness but I think at this point in time we can absolutely assume it will never be delivered on time again. Spontaneous updates from now on, though i will strive for once a week.  
> Enjoy!


	27. You got in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony comes to pick Anne up from Peters house.

To say Peter is enamoured with the idea of a fully-functioning AI would be grossly understating the fan boy act he put on almost immediately after she finished explaining.

  
“Man, I wonder if I could ever create one,” he says, enthusiastically. “I’d call it… well, that’s not… anyway, FRIDAY is so cool. And Mr Stark sounds awesome. I wish I could meet him.”

  
It didn’t take Peter long to accept that Anne knew about Spider-man and that she wasn’t a threat. As offended as she may have been at being so easily cast aside as a potential danger, she appreciates that he’s comfortable around her now.

  
“He will want to meet you, I bet,” Anne says.

  
“Damn right he will.”

  
Anne pales and turns to the doorway, where she finds a confused Aunt May and a very awake, slightly angry Tony.

  
“You can imagine my surprise when I woke up to Steve hammering on my door, telling me how rude you’ve been and how you’ve ‘disappeared without a trace’ and ‘in need of a serious attitude adjustment’.”

  
“Uh…” Anne is shrinking in on herself, and Peter is looking awkward and awed simultaneously.

  
“Look, Anne, this isn’t working out,” Tony says, regretfully.

  
“You’re kicking me out?” Anne whispers, wrapping her arms around herself.

  
“What?” Tony looks stricken. “Jesus Christ, no. I just meant… no. Never. Anne, you’re my kid. You could blow up the tower and Id never get rid of you.”

  
“Oh.”

  
Anne’s shoulders drop the tension she had just built up.

  
“I just meant we need to establish some rules.”

  
“Mr Rogers was being a—“

  
“At home.”

  
“Oh. Ok.”

  
Anne hops of the bed and holds a hand out to Peter, who takes it and shakes, though he eyes don’t leave Tony’s face.

  
“Sorry for the trouble. Thanks for the help. You have my numbers, K? Call whenever.”

  
She the. Apologies to Aunt May for the trouble and she leaves with Tony, staying a few steps behind. She twists her fingers and bites her lip.

  
How much trouble am I in?

  
Tony stops by a black car with tinted windows, and Happy leans out of the drivers window to grin at her.

  
“Hi, Uncle Happy.”

  
“Hey kid.”

  
She climbs in the back and Tony climbs in after her. It’s awkward, she thinks. And tense. She hopes she doesn’t get shouted at, cause she’s not sure she’d survive. Not from Tony, at least.

  
“I’m sorry,” she gushes. “I didn’t mean to screw things up, I swear, but Mr Rogers was being a grade-a asshat and I wasn’t about to talk to him with respect if he was incapable of talking about you with any. And I wasn’t, and never will, go someone dangerous without permission, but I just wanted to meet him, and figured it’d be a nice way to make friends since you cancelled the tutoring, not that I blame you, but I need more people my own age and Peter seemed perfect for that cause he’s smart too, you know? And —“

  
“Anne.”

  
“— he seemed nice anyway, so maybe I could tutor him and maybe even go to high school and be a little more normal cause I can’t exactly hang around with the team because they’re all being mean and —“

  
“Anne, calm down. I’m not angry at you.”  
“— they don’t… what?”

  
“I’m not angry at you.”

  
“You’re not? Then… you seem angry.”

  
“I am. At Steve. FRIDAY played me the phone conversation after I got an earful from Captain Righteous. I don’t blame you for what you said or how you reacted. He was being an asshat, as you do delicately put it. And he had no right to speak to you like that. I am, however, a little peeved that you didn’t ask before wondering off, even if it was to the spider-kids house.”

  
“You had me worried there. Hold on. How did you know?”

  
“You think you’re the only one who’s has their eye out on that kid?”

  
Anne shrugs.

  
“No. I’ve known who he was the instant he came out of the woodwork. I am, however, very impressed that you figured t out so quickly. FRIDAY showed me how you got to the answer. You’re really quite smart.”

  
“I thought we’d covered that,” Anne smirks.

  
“Look, I’ll set up some play dates in the future, OK? I can invite Michelangelo to come back and tutor you, and I’ll speak to that Mrs May. She was quite the looker. Most aunts I know are ageing.”

  
“Gross. Pepper won’t be cool with that.”

  
Tony doesn’t respond to that, and Anne nudges him with her elbow.

  
“I think we should make me an armour.”

  
Tony looks appalled by the mere thought.

  
“An armour? Are you insane? I’m not about to let you put yourself in danger like that!”

  
“But —“

  
“There is nothing in the world you can tell me that would convince me it’s a good idea. You’re not getting a flying death machine.”

  
“That’s not fair!”

  
“Fair? You’re arguing that me not letting you die isn’t fair? Anne, you’re supposed to be smart, but this is the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard.”

  
“You’re being unreasonable.”

  
“Happy?” Tony calls ahead. “Do you think that I’m being unreasonable by not letting Anne have an iron man suit?”

  
Happy laughs boisterously and catches her eye in the rear view mirror.

  
“Not at all, Mr Stark. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a long time.”

  
Anne flares back at Happy and crosses her arms petulantly. Tony seems more amused than upset by her reaction, and that only serves to annoy Anne more. She hadn’t really given the idea much thought, but saying it out loud, she suddenly realised that it would be an excellent idea.

  
Well. She doesn’t need his permission. She could easily do it herself.

  
“If you even try to build your own armour, you’re going to be grounded… or something.”

  
Anne turns to look out of the window, hoping that she doesn’t look like she was even considering that.

  
Tony chuckles to himself, and then orders Happy to stop by an address. Anne feels like she’s being baited out of being angry at him, so she doesn’t even bother asking where they’re going. It’s not until they pull up that she’s confused.

  
“Where are we?”

  
“Basking Robbins,” Tony says, like she was stupid.

  
“Yeah, I got that part. Why?”

  
“To eat ice cream.”

  
Anne isn’t sure what she expected the answer to be, but she should have known Tony would refuse to look into the depth of the question. Happy opens the door for her, and Tony nudges her to climb out. She follows.

  
“Come on. What’s your favourite flavour?” Tony asks, as he and Happy herd her inside.

  
“Dunno.”

  
Tony looks suspicious, but when he gets to the counter he looks the man up and down and grins.

  
“Scott, nice to meet you,” Tony says. “My small friend here doesn’t know what her favourite ice cream is. Can you make an educated suggested?”

  
“Uh. Probably.”

  
The man looks far too old to be working on a Baskin Robbins, and while there’s a glint of intelligence in his eye, there’s also a kind of dopey look about him. Anne waits, and he seems to belatedly realise that Tony wasn’t asking if he could but rather if he would.

  
“Oh, right, well, I’d recommend chocolate, or mint chocolate, but some people prefer something more exciting, so I’d suggest one of these…”

  
Scott talks through every flavour in the freezer unit, and Happy and Tony watch her become frustrated further with every second it goes on for.

  
“I’ll just have the chocolate.”

  
“Right. Cools. coolio. No pun intended.”  
Anne is not sure how to respond to that, so she moves to stand behind Tony so that she doesn’t have to.

  
“I’ll take a Mint Chocolate, and Happy?”

  
“Vanilla.”

  
“Dull.”

  
Scott goes about preparing small paper bowls for them, and Anne notices him shooting confused glances towards Tony. She wonders if he recognises him, or if he’s got a thing for guys with goatees.

  
“Thank you,” Anne whispers, as she takes her ice cream.

  
“You’re welcome, Kid,” Scott says with a bright smile.

  
Tony leads them to a table in the corner and Anne hunches in on herself anxiously. She dips her spoon into her ice cream and tastes it.

  
“Is it up to your high standards?”

  
Anne glares at Tony. There’s a hidden agenda here, and he’s stalling.

  
“Look. I don’t want us to go back to the tower with you being angry at me, OK?”

  
“Then let me build an armour.”

  
“Not happening. It’s dangerous, Anne.”

  
“But Spider-man does it,” she mutters.

  
“Spider-man has two things you do not. Two extra years of life and genetic enhancements. You’re smart, but you’re too young.”

  
“I don’t think —“

  
“Answer me this honestly,” Tony says, cutting her off. “Imagine you’re a thirty year old billionaire genius.”

  
“Thirty?”

  
“I said imagine, OK? You’re thirty, You’ve recently adopted a fourteen year old girl who was recently rescued after being kidnapped by a psycho AI. Said girl wants to fly around in a suit of armour preforming dangerous tasks of a regular basis. Would you, in the shoes of that thirty year old, let the girl have the suit?”

  
Anne’s glare darkens and she wants to say ‘yes’ but she knows Tony would know it was a straight up lie.

  
“No,” she admits with a huff. “But —“

  
“No buts.”

  
Anne taps the little pink spoon against the side of the paper cup and contemplates where to go from here.

  
“What’s on your mind?” Happy asks.

  
“Dunno,” she shrugs.

  
“Out of curiosity, what would you have called yourself if I’d let you have an armour?” Tony asks.

  
“Dunno,” Anne says, cheeks burning. “IronGirl.”

  
Tony barks out a laugh and Anne frowns.

  
“That’s a terrible name.”

  
“Oh, and Iron Man is genius?”

  
“I didn’t name myself,” Tony points out. “And it’s not even accurate. You’d need something way cooler.”

  
“Like what?”

  
“Like Red Queen.”

  
“Isn’t that from Alice in Wonderland?”

  
“I never said I was better at making names. Other people chose ironman, remember?”

  
Anne smiles, and Tony smiles back.

  
“Peppers calling,” Happy says, pulling out his phone.

  
Tony looks pained, and Anne wants to ask what’s wrong, but then Happy hangs up and looks at Anne with bright excitement.

  
“You got into MIT! They want you to go in two months, so that they can prep you, and help cover all the subjects you’ve missed.”

  
“I GOT IN?”

  
The man at the desk turns to look at them, bemused, but Anne is already jumping up and down, staring at Tony and Happy.

  
“I was so sure they’d say no, but they said yes?!” she screams.

  
“Well done, kiddo.”

  
Anne is freaking out. How did this even happen? After the disaster interview, she’d made the assumption that she’d never hear from them again.

Unconsciously, she’d been genuinely considering high-school.

  
Tony pulls her into a hug, and Anne squeezes back, still not quite comprehending the news properly.

~~~

  
By the time they’ve arrive at the Tower, Anne has pretty much forgotten about her argument with Steve, and she bounds into the communal living room where the team are all sat around in what might have been a tense silence.  
Anne wouldn’t know.

  
“I got in!” she screams as she runs in and throws herself onto the sofa so she can continue to jump around.

  
Tony and Happy stand in the doorway, watching with amused expressions as Anne bounces of the walls.

  
“I got into MIT!” she announces loudly, jumping onto Thor’s back and hugging him. “I’m going to college!”

  
The team instantly begin giving her their congratulations and Anne gushes, telling them all about how she hadn’t expected to get in, and what she’s going to do when she gets there, and how she’s going to make friends.

  
Steve silently tries to slip away, but Tony huffs a breath and follows him into the elevator.

  
“Rogers,” he says, casually.

  
“Stark.”

  
The silence hangs between them, and the elevator moves. Had it been JARVIS, it would have run at a fraction of the speed, but FRIDAY isn’t intuitive enough yet. It’s depressing, those moment when he remembers that JARVIS is gone.

  
“What happened, Rogers? Where’d all this tension come from?”

  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Steve denies.

  
“Oh? Is it the absolute lack of things that made you suggest I wasn’t capable of caring for my own child? Or that my ‘place’ on the team, which is still as a consultant might I add, is tenuous?”  
Steve looks stricken, but after a second, he sags.

  
“Ultron shook us all up.”

  
Tony nods acknowledging the truth, but he knows this started before that. It was back when SHEILD fell and Cap was a wanted criminal. He just can’t imagine what happened that would make Steve uncomfortable around Tony enough to be treating him like that. They step out of the elevator on the floor with the gym and start walking.

  
“Yeah, it did,” Tony agrees. “But that’s behind us right? I’ve got to work to fix my wrongs, but… we can come back from this, can’t we?”

  
Tony sounds desperate, but Steve seems oblivious. It’s almost as if he’s not paying attention.

  
“I don’t know if we can.”

  
Tony stops walking and Steve disappears into he gym. Minutes later, he sound of fists pounding on leather punching bags fills the air.

  
Tony doesn’t really know what he’s supposed to do with this information, or where he’s supposed to take his relationship with the team from there.  
So, he goes upstairs and watches his daughter planning all the different things she’s going to do when she finally gets to University.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy hell guys, it’s been weeks. I’m so sorry, but I have NO idea where I’m going with this.  
> If anyone has any suggestions, few free to add them in 😂
> 
> Side note, head over to my Tumblr if you want updates on any of my fics and my random outside life :) 
> 
> JustWritingNovels


	28. Little girl, why are you crying?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne tries to help, but she wonders if she's doing more harm than good.

Enter Anne

 

The week that follows is a blaze of calls, meetings, shopping, studying and packing. Anne would feel overwhelmed if she had the time to. Even when her mind is free for a few seconds, it’s solely focused on the fact that for the first time in her life, Anne has a solid future that she genuinely looks forward to. She can almost see herself becoming a world-renowned mechanic.

She’ll probably make some friends too! Not that she knows how. But it shouldn’t be that hard, right? In the movies, they just find someone, talk to them, ensure a little hardship and then become stronger friends because of it. Is that how it works?

“No.”

Anne jumps almost a foot in the air at the unexpected reply to what she assumed was an internal question. She ducks her head in embarrassment, but Clint just nudges her with his elbow.

“Come to check if you needed any help, and obviously you do, though I’ll admit, I thought it would be more packing and less talking.”

“We don’t need to talk,” Anne says. “I think… I think I just need to watch some movies. Figure out how one goes about making a friend.”

“Movies won’t help you, kid. You need someone with real-life experience.”

“Oh.” Anne frowns and purses her lips. “Who should I talk to then?”

Clint laughs boisterously and throws himself on her bed as though it’s his room. Anne flares at him, waiting for him to get the hint and leave, but he seems adamant on completely ignoring her.

“The trick to making friends is being likeable. You see, I have lots of friends because I’m likeable, but Stark has none because he’s not.”

“Friday, can you shoot Clint please?”

Clint bolts upright on the bed looking nervously at the ceiling.

“I’m joking, I’m joking, obviously.” His hands are up in surrender, and he grins at Anne.

“Why is everyone so mean to him?” she asks, accusingly. “I know what you were all saying about him the other day. I know Steve wants him off the team, thinks he’s not fit to be my dad. But Tony has put his life and his company on the line for you guys, for this city, hell, for the entire country. Exactly what does he have to do to earn your respect?”

Clint looks distinctly awkward now, and he shrugs.

“Uh, back to the ‘how do I make friends’ question,” he says nervously, “you just have to find someone and establish common ground. Maybe you both like the colour pink, or are die-hard fans of My Little Pony.”

“I feel like this is gender orientated,” Anne complains.

“It’s not. just take my word for that. Don’t google it.”

Anne pulls a face but doesn’t try to take that line of enquiry anywhere.

“So, was that’s it?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Ignore whatever advice he’s giving you,” Natasha warns, as she aisles into the room and perched on the end of the bed. “Clint wouldn’t know how to make friends if he read the handbook a dozen times.”

“There’s a handbook?”

“No,” Tash says. “But if there was.”

“Don’t be so rude,” Clint whines.

“Remind me again why watching a movie won’t teach me the valuable lessons I need?” Anne mutters. “Are you guys even qualified for this lecture?”

Clint laughs loudly, holding his stomach as he does so. Both Natasha and Anne watch him, unimpressed, as he works at catching his breath.

“You’re hilarious, Anne. Seriously.”

“Useless,” Anne groans. “I just don’t want to be a loner while I’m there.”

“If Tony went there a fourteen-year-old genius with a name everybody knew and came out with James Rhodes, then you’ll be fine,” Natasha soothes.

“I bet Tony knew how to make friends already,” Anne says miserably. “Socially, I’m succeeded by kindergartners.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Natasha warns.

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s only first-graders.”

Natasha slaps his calf with a huff and a roll of her eyes before fixing Anne with a look.

“You’ll be fine. Part of the reason you’re going months in advance in to help acclimatise you to that life. You’ll probably find someone to talk to there. Contrary to what you might believe, you’re very sweet and likeable. I don’t think you’re going to have problems making friends.”

Anne is sceptical because she has to be. Saying ‘you’ll make friends’ to someone whos never done it before is the same as saying ‘you’ll ace that advanced placement biology exam’ to someone who’s never studied biology. It’s an unfair expectation.

“You don’t believe me,” Nat observes, “but you will.”

“Wanna place a bet?” Anne offers.

“No,” Clint scoffs. “I wouldn’t put it past you to purposely become to a loner to avoid losing.”

“If she goes to college and makes no friends, then she’s already lost,” Natasha says.

Anne dramatically collapses to the side and glares up at the two superspies.

“They’re gonna think I’m weird,” she whispers.

“Why? Cause you’re still a pre-teen?”

“No.” Anne fidgets with the hem of her dress. “Because I’m not normal. My hair, my past… they’ll know. People will know. I’ll be a… freak.”

Clint clicks his tongue and gets off the bed to lower himself next to her. She doesn’t push herself to sit upright, she just continues to stare pathetically at the floor, chewing on her lower lip while considering just how awful her life is destined to become.

“You might be a freak, but people will still like you,” Clint promises.

“Dammit, Clint.”

Natasha rolls her eyes and then gracefully climbs from the bed and leaves. Clint ruffles Anne’s hair promising she’ll be OK, and then gets up to follow. Anne watched them leave and then pushes herself back onto her knees and pulls an empty suitcase towards her.

She’s not sure _how_ _much_ stuff to take with her. On the one hand, she wants to make wherever she ends up feeling like home, but she’s worried that if she takes too much, the tower won’t feel like home anymore either.

“You leave in the morning,” Steve says from the doorway. “You excited?”

Anne jumps in surprise at his sudden appearance.

“Kinda, I guess,” she mutters.

“You’re angry with me,” he sighs. “I guess I deserve that.”

Anne closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

“I am, but do you know why?”

Steve can’t seem to hide the amusement that flits across his face. Anne tries not to feel angrier at this.

“No,” he admits. “I don’t.”

“Because despite _everything_ , despite the time, the money and the sheer effort that Tony puts into your lives and this team, you still have the gall to disrespect him.”

Any lingering amusement vanishes and Steve suddenly looks deadly serious. Anne wants to be smug about it but holds off.

“You’re too young to –”

“If the next words out of your mouth are going to be ‘understand’ then you’re an idiot. Don’t spit that BS, Steve, when you know I’m not too young for anything.”

Anne stands up and straightens her back, and it feels curiously as though she’s preparing to square off with Captain America.

“Tony gave me a life when no one else would,” she reminds him. “And all I’ve seen you do since I’ve moved in is treat him like a child or an annoyance. And worse, he lets it happen cause he doesn’t want you to hate him.”

“I don’t know how to explain it to you,” Steve says quietly. “He… he gets under my skin.”

Anne shrugs. That much was obvious, but the ‘why’ still hung in the air. Tony antagonises everyone and did so in equal measure. He was good at it. If such a thing existed, it would be his superpower, but Steve is the only one who truly lets it get to him. Other than some dull politicians, that is.

“That’s your problem to solve,” Anne says softly. “But you need to actually try. Tony deserves that.”

Steve nods, a little embarrassed that he’d been called out by a teenager.

“So,” he says, forcing his tone to be light. “Do you need any help?”

“Nope. Tony, Happy and Pepper are taking my stuff down to the cars tonight and then we’re going to watch movies together.”

“That’s good. Are you excited about starting school?”

Anne shrugs. She’s not exactly sure, yet. She’s still nervous about making friends, but the idea of learning more about the things she’s interested in, the idea of being able to build and meet people and start moving towards a new life is a thrilling one. She never thought she’d make it out of the caves, and look where she is now.

“I understand,” Steve says. “Coming off the ice was unexpected. Learning that I’d been unconscious for so long and that the world had gone on without me was harder. Everyone I knew and loved was either dead or on their way out. When I was told about the Avengers Initiative, I didn’t really want to join. It didn’t feel right to start living again when my life was over. But I don’t regret it. I don’t think you will, either.”

Anne is still feeling quite resentful, so she can’t find it in herself to reply. She just sits on the floor in the middle of the room staring into the half-packed suitcase. After five minutes of pointed silence, Steve sighs and leaves. The moment he is gone, she leans back against the edge of the bed and stares at the wall.

How could anyone living in such close quarters with Tony manage to remain completely oblivious to his deeds? How did they only see the surface personality, the one he puts out for his enemies to see? The one without vulnerabilities, the impenetrable one? Anne has seen him drop that around the team, knows that Steve should know better, so she can’t figure out how they’re willingly only seeing fake Tony and not the real one.

She decides to ditch the packing for now and heads down to the labs, where Tony has been since that morning. She takes the stairs two at a time. Her legs feel cramped from sitting awkwardly, so she needs to stretch them out. Maybe if she’d taken the elevator, FRIDAY could have saved her from overhearing the beginning of an argument.

“…reckless with _your_ life, and now our daughters?” Pepper accuses. “You have a family now, Tony. Isn’t that enough for you?”

“It’s not about being enough,” Tony replies earnestly. “It’s about making amends!”

“For _what_?”

“For Everything. For the damage my weapons did. For the Maximoff families everywhere. I have to repay a debt to society, and _this_ is how I can do it.”

“Tony, you don’t owe the world your life.”

Anne wishes she wasn’t hearing this. She tries to take a few steps backwards, ready to retreat, when she hears something that makes her freeze.

“This is why I can’t stay with you,” Pepper says sadly. “You’re a danger to yourself. I can’t cope with the stress of waiting for you to come home.”

“Pepper,” Tony’s voice breaks. “please.”

Anne turns and races down the stairs, towards the bottom. She rushes out of the building and doesn’t stop running until she’s weaving between people and the bustling streets. She has to drag herself over to the nearest bench and she crumples into it.

Tony and Pepper are breaking up. They’re breaking up, but they were _fine_. She doesn’t understand what happened. What changed? Hasn’t Tony always been reckless? What’s different now?

_You are_.

Anne puts her face in her hands when she realises her evil internal voice is right. She’s the cause of their break. If only she hadn’t let herself get caught up in it all, this wouldn’t have been an issue. She can’t believe how hard she screwed up. She’s destroyed their family.

_And you were never really part of it. You never truly felt comfortable calling any of them mom, dad or Uncle. You never fit in._

Anne is almost furious with herself for even believing differently. How could she have convinced herself? And she thought she was helping with Steve, but in the background, she was actually just screwing things up.

“Little girl, why are you crying?”

Anne is about to tell whoever is talking to leave her alone, but a second later, a wet rag is held over her mouth and she loses consciousness.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... sorry.


	29. Furious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony learns Anne is missing, and Anne meets a pirate.

Chapter 29

 

Anne’s head hurts, and she feels sick. For a moment, she thinks she’s back in the cave. She always woke up feeling like this. She supposes it was fortunate that she was never conscious of the in-between. Most of the time, at least.

She opens her eyes and then snaps them closed almost immediately when the bright lights slice through her retinas. She squints, slowly allowing her eyes to adjust. Once she can see properly, she observes the space around her.

It’s white, like, worse than any hospital room she’s ever been in. They did not branch out here, color-wise. She looks down at herself and finds that they, whoever _they_ are, have put her in new clothes, a white jumpsuit. Trying to ignore how uncomfortable that idea makes her, she quickly does a mental once over of her body to check whether anyone did anything untoward.

They didn’t, thank goodness.

But that doesn’t change the fact that someone has definitely kidnapped her. Now, is it cause of her smarts, or Tony’s.

“Hey, if you’re there, can you please let me go free?”

There are no camera’s, so she can only hope they’ll hear her, just so that she can what she’s up against.

“Hello?”

No one comes. She just stood there, uselessly. Slowly, she makes her way towards the door, only to discover that it’s unlocked. She pulls it open and then waits a moment. Then she sticks her head out and peers around. Nothing. No one. Just a stark white corridor.

Anne considers her options, slim as they are. She could stay in the room or she could try to run. Unfortunately, she has a feeling that the latter is something they’re prepared for, but the former will leave her almost willingly in their arms. So, there is no choice, except the one that _feels_ like she’s at least trying.

So, Anne steps out of the room and waits for a moment, to see if it triggers a reaction. It doesn’t. She starts to walk, slowly, suspiciously, waiting for the worst to happen. Every second in which she remains unfollowed and unhurt causes tension to rise, and her steps to speed up. Somethings gotta give.

 

~~~

 

Tony has his face in his hands once Pepper has stormed out of the room. He can’t believe how quickly his world seems to be breaking into tiny pieces.

There’s a fraction between him and Steve, which is now affecting the whole team. Now Bruce is just… gone. Anne is leaving for college and now Pepper is simply leaving him. And what does he have left? Sure, Anne will come back to visit. Pepper will still be his CEO, the team will likely still be around, and he hopes that one day, Bruce will return. But still, he feels so alone that the weight of it threatens to crush him.

“Boss, incoming call from James Rhodes.”

“Ignore it.”

“Tony?”

Tony sighs. FRIDAY has no sense of respect. Not that he can fault her for it, but still.

“Hey, platypus.”

“Pepper just called. Told me what happened.”

“Such a gossip.”

“Yeah, well, you know us. We can’t keep anything to ourselves.”

Tony laughs, loud and with a crippling absence of humour. Rhodey sighs, so heavy it almost tickles Tony’s ear.

“Tones, I’m sorry.”

“Aren’t we all?”

“Are you gonna be OK?”

“When am I not?”

Rhodey laughs this time, and Tony cringes.

“I can think of fifteen individual cases in which you were not OK.”

Tony lets his shoulders sag and he slumps in the chair.

“I’m not, but I will be.”

“What’re your plans for this evening? I’ll be there at nineteen hundred hours.”

“You don’t have to –”

“My best friend just got dumped by a girl he loves. I’m coming over. What are our plans? And I’m telling you now, they won’t involve drowning in alcohol. Understand?”

“We’re having a movie night with happy.”

“OK. Here’s what you need to do. Order in some food, some ice-cream and line up a movie. PJ’s are mandatory. Make sure there is no alcohol in the vicinity and that there is a pile of warm blankets ready for us to wrap ourselves in.”

“Sir, yes sir.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

The line clicks and goes silent, and Tony feels a little lighter for having spoken to his friend, but there’s still something that lingers on the surface of his being that he’s yet to identify, though he suspects that it’s going to be depression.

_Hello,_ _darkness, my old friend._

“Fri, inform Happy and Anne of the change in plans.”

There’s a moment of silence in which FRIDAY isn’t speaking, and instantly Tony is on edge. Normally she’d reply instantly with ‘of course boss’ or something a little less polite, but her silence speaks volumes.

“Fri?”

“I’m sorry boss,” her Irish tones quiver, “Anne isn’t in the building.”

Tony jumps up from his seat, looking around the lab as if she may appear suddenly.

“Then where is she?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know.”

“Don’t… what do you mean you don’t know?”

FRIDAY doesn’t speak again, but on one of the screens in front of him pops a video feed. It shows Anne heading down the stairs towards the lab. There’s no sound, but when Anne stops and her face twists, Tony knows exactly what she’s hearing. The timestamp in the corner simply confirms it. Anne then turns around and the screen cuts out.

“What happened? The feed, bring it back up.”

“I cannot,” Friday admits. “The servers cut out of approximately two minutes and fifteen seconds.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tony shouts.

“I did not know until now, Boss. Whatever touched my systems did so with great caution.”

Tony feels two things; Outrage that someone thought they could _violate_ one daughter and terror that his other is missing.

“Friday, bring up every camera feed from outside the tower and within a mile in any direction. Run facial rec, alert the team, and then when you get time, run diagnostics. No one gets away with messing with my kids.”

“Yes, boss.”

Tony jogs up the stairs and bursts into the common room. Steve is nowhere to be seen, but Natasha and Clint are stood in the middle, clearly aware of the situation.

“Anne is gone?” Clint asks. “Again?”

“Someone hacked FRIDAY,” Tony says. “This was coordinated somehow. They must have had had eyes in here the entire time. Friday is gonna run diagnostics when she has eyes on my kid.”

~~~

No one has shown themselves yet, and Anne knows that it’s only a matter of time. Anne is walking down a blinding white hallway in a stiff white jumpsuit, and something has to happen because it’s clearly all coordinated.

“Jesus Christ, I don’t know who you are or what you intend to do with me, but this is its own kind of torture.”

Anne starts to run, searching for someone, but the walls seem to go on forever and there’s no one. The doors are all locked.

“Face me, you cowards!”

A door opens and a large black man with an eye patch steps out.

“You really are your father’s daughter.”

Anne turns on her heel and runs in the other direction.

~~~

“I’ve traced Anne to a bench in Central Park. She was knocked out and carried to a car.”

Friday throws up video footage, and Tony, Tasha and Clint watch in horror as someone shoved a rag over her mouth and she goes limp with unconsciousness.

“Friday, track her,” Tony demands. “See if we can figure out who took her. Find out where Steve is. Call whoever we need to. My kid has been taken and there is nothing you shouldn’t be doing to save her.”

“On it, boss.”

Tony turns and starts to head to the rooftop.

“Send the suit.”

Natasha and Clint follow Tony to the rooftop.

“Send is the details when you have them,” Clint says. “We’ll get there as soon as we can.”

Tony nods and the suit closes around him. He’s read to get his daughter back, no matter how many people he has to go through to get her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Home for the first time in a year and a half only to learn that my Dad is Team Cap.


	30. Angry Pirate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne tries to escape, Tony tries to not rip Steve's head off his shoulders

Anne feels as though all breath has left her lungs. Pain shoots through her sides, and she curses her terrible luck that she’d get a stitch while running from the angry leather pirate. Maybe she should consider working out or something so that when these things happen, she’s physically equipped to run away. As much as she’d like to pretend it’s not really a possibility, she’s sure that it is.

“Anne Stark, I insist that you don’t continue this silly game. We’re not here to hurt you, only to talk to you.”

“Talk, my ass,” she shouts back with the last of her breath. “You can’t trick me, you ugly pirate.”

She hears what is unmistakably a sigh over the speakers, but she doesn’t slow down, no matter how much it hurts. The corridor is never-ending, and the only sign that she’s even going anywhere is that she ran past the open door that she’d left through not five minutes ago. It’s all white with glaring lights hanging from the ceiling and doors.

“We’ll call Mr Stark if you stop running,” the voice promises.

“Oh, right, tempting as tricking him into showing up for a trap may be, I’m gonna have to give that a hard pass,” she pants.

She reaches a dead-end. She skids to a stop and frantically looks around. There are two doors on either side of her, and she decides that since the first door wasn’t locked, maybe this one won’t be either? She reaches out and twists the handle and stumbles as the door opens outward. There’s nothing but a set of elevator doors on the other side, but with limited options, Anne slams the button respectively until it opens.

She reels backwards when an old man wearing an elevator operation uniform is stood in the corner.

“Uh, hi?”

“You’re letting the heat out,” he complains. “You getting in or not?”

Anne hears footsteps coming behind her and figures she’s really limited in her options. She jumps into the elevator, and the doors close behind her. As she catches her breath, she moves into the corner, as far away from the man as possible, and she does so, she notices that there is elevator music playing.

“Is this a dream?”

The man looks her up and down and shakes his head.

“No. this is an elevator.”

“Who are you.”

He holds out his hand, and she eyes it tentatively but shakes it anyway.

“Lee. Stan Lee.”

“Oh. Hi. Uh, I’m Stark. Anne Stark.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“I want to go outside.”

“That’ll be floor fifteen then.”

Anne wants to question why she’d have to go to the fifteenth floor to get outside, but she just continues to stare at the man. When the doors open up, she practically falls out.

“So… it was nice to meet you,” she calls as she starts running again.

“Kids,” she hears him mutter to himself.

Anne runs down a hallway that has meeting rooms on either side with large floor to ceiling windows instead of ordinary walls. She doesn’t stop to check, but they all seem empty. She keeps running, ignoring how tired it's making her feel, overlooking the drain of adrenaline, ignoring the noises above her, undoubtedly the weird leather pirate barking orders for her to stop.

Ahead of her, she sees the blessed front doors, and she pushes herself harder and faster. Freedom is directly ahead of her.

She slams into the door, ready to get outside and… well, she’s not sure what her next step would be exactly, but as long as it means being outside and away from the nuthouse.

She stumbles outside and freezes. Directly in front of her is the pirate and behind him there’s… nothing. Empty space. Desert land. Sand for miles and miles.

_Fuck._

 

*~*~*

 

“Ok, yes, Ok. Sure, Fury, I’ll let him know.”

Tony is furiously pacing in front of Natasha, who is talking on the phone. She looks _pissed,_ and it’s not easy to piss off the black widow enough for it be shown on her face. Unless she wants Tony to see it. Which is also an option.

“Fury has her.”

“Fury has who?” Tony asks, distracted by whether Natasha is showing emotion for his sake or for lack of control.

“Fury. He has Anne.”

“Oh, thank god,” Tony almost collapses. “Where is he? I’ll go pick her up. Probably buy him a house for finding her. What’re the chances? I don’t give him enough credit –”

“Stark.”

“—I mean, of all the people to have come across her, Fury is not the one I’d have assumed. Who told him she was even missing?”

“Stark.” Natasha’s voice cuts through his thoughts, and he freezes. “Fury is the one who took her.”

Tony freezes, his face melting from relief to anger.

“What the _hell_ is he doing with my kid?” Tony growls. “Tell me where they are.”

Natasha looks unnerved, and Tony doesn’t have the mind to spare wondering if it’s him eliciting that reaction or if it’s Fury’s action. Anger burns in his veins as he thinks about how scared she must be, and fear plagues his mind at the idea of what they may be doing to her.

“I don’t know where they are,” Natasha admits.

Tony can feel a vein in his forehead throbbing at the stress. What does she mean, she doesn’t know? She’s supposed to fill in the blanks for what he doesn’t know?

“What’s going on?” Captain fucking America asks as he steps into the lab. “I can hear shouting.”

“Fury took Anne,” Natasha says, saving Cap from the diatribe Tony wants to unleash on the world. “We don’t know where to. Or why.”

“Oh,” is all he says. And then he _smiles._ “Well, at least we know she’s safe then, eh?”

He claps Tony on the back with a grin, and Natasha steps in quickly to stop any potential fight from breaking out.

“Cap, not now.”

His brows furrow in confusion, looking from the face of absolute fury on Tony’s face to warning on Natasha’s.

“What? We don’t trust Fury now?”

“Not when he steals my daughter,” Tony spits.

“Maybe he was just doing what you couldn’t do?”

“Yeah? And what might that be?”

“Keeping the kid from running around the streets recklessly.”

Tony has never wanted to punch the man before.

“Low blow, bro,” Clint tells Steve, moving forward.

“Is it?” Steve asks defensively. “Because since she came into Tony’s care, she’s run away twice. At least with Fury, she’ll be safe.”

“Safe? _Safe_?” Tony feels hysterical. “She’s not _safe._ If anything, she’s being held against her will.”

“Tony, you don’t have to turn everything into an argument—”

“Fuck you.”

Tony turns on his heel and leaves the room. He has Friday hack into S.H.E.I.L.D to tell him where Anne is while he has the suit build up around him. He’s going to get his daughter back, and if he has to fight Fury to do it, he will.

 

*~*~*

 

For all her brains, Anne is stumped. She can either go back inside and try to fight off; however many people in order to try and make a phone call, or she can head into the desert and get heat-stroke and die.

Neither option has a high success rate, and neither make her feel like they’re worth attempting, but what are her alternatives? She sits here and lets everything take the course it wants to?

Why the _hell_ did she think of leaving the tower without warning anyone was a good idea? Isn’t getting kidnapped something that happens to people who _don’t_ have superheroes are parental figures? Jesus _Christ_.

Anne turns around at the sound of a door opening and sees the angry black pirate coming outside, only know he’s feeling something off of his face.

“Are you peeling your _face?_ ” she asks horrified.

But there was no reason to ask because a second later the mask is gone and beneath it is some weird white dude with a scowl for an expression and a messed-up attempt at Tony’s goatee.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Tony’s worst nightmare,” he says ominously.


End file.
